


The Mythic Hunt

by Bed_Man



Category: Original Work
Genre: Anthro, Anthropomorphic, Fantasy, Fox - Freeform, HMOFA - Freeform, Human, Original Character(s), Original Race(s), Story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-09
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 12:29:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 25,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29933439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bed_Man/pseuds/Bed_Man
Summary: A small town hunter hears about a once in a lifetime opportunity to bag a most interesting prize.





	The Mythic Hunt

From over the city's highest buildings, sunlight could be seen peeking its way out from the horizon. The early morning breeze had yet to warm, sending a slight chill through the streets and up my spine. The quiet atmosphere was almost serene, relaxing even. Soon enough however, the sun would drive away the cold night in full and people would begin filing out into the market street, where I would be ready and waiting to make my sales. 

I had woken at first light in order to open my stall as soon as I could. The two heavy sacks I brought with me contained my morning's wares that I hoped would go quickly. It didn't take much time to empty the contents of the first sack and proudly display the items along the stall's counters. On the lowest counter, in a neat little row, were bits and pieces of different animal meats, personally hunted. There was rabbit, snake, elk, bear, and even a few birds. On the next row up were the pelts of those animals, or at least, the ones I could actually sell. No one ever really wanted to buy snake skin from my experience, and hawk feathers weren't used much for anything these days. The third and final counter was full of a random assortment of other animal parts; teeth, claws, talons, antlers, etc. 

As I was putting the finishing touches on the items' placements, I noticed a familiar sound heading my way. The crunch of fallen leaves trampled by wooden wheels came as a cart was being pulled by a rather tall man in a loose fitting cloak. Despite him having the hood pulled up, I knew exactly who it was. There was only one man his size in this section of the market, after all. Littered on the cart were a few boxes of potions, some jars of colorful liquids, and a handful of alchemical ingredients. There was a satchel hanging by the man's side, which I knew to be carrying more alchemic supplies of his. He stolled up to the stall across the street from mine and began unloading his haul onto the counters.

Judging by the fact the sun had yet to rise above the rooftops yet, there was still time before the market opened. Taking advantage of this lapse in activity, I casually walked over to the alchemist. Not reacting to my presence at all, he was currently busying himself with deciding which potions would take center stage, mumbling to himself all the while. A small vial of silver liquid was being weighed against one full of a clear watery substance, and it was then I made myself known.

A loud clearing of the throat, followed by, "Morning, Albert." 

The man in question flinched for but a moment before looking over at me. Tensed shoulders relaxed as he realized the owner of the voice, and he at once pulled the hood down. Beneath the cloth covering was an average looking man in his mid-thirties. Though a few years older than myself, he was one of the first people who welcomed me to the market when I first set up here, and took me out for a celebratory drink after that first day of sales. His dark hair was a mess, a consequence of wearing his heavy cloak's hood so early after waking. Or perhaps it was a side effect of his staying up late, brewing potions and whatnots. The slight bags under his amber eyes made me think the latter must have been the case, and when he finally responded, the suspicion was only further confirmed.

Through a voice sluggish from a lack of rest, he said, "Ah. Morning, Cedric." The twin vials in his hands were swiftly placed onto the middle counter as he carried on, "You're here earlier than usual. Don't normally see you setting up until just a few minutes before the usual crowd shows up."

"Yea, I wanted to see if maybe taking the time to make the display look a bit nicer might net me some more sales." Waving a hand over towards his cart, I then asked, "Got anything interesting for sale today?"

That simple question was enough to make Albert's eyes light up in excitement, and an odd smile formed along his lips. He began to explain the special potions he brought that morning, what they were made of, how much time it took to brew each one, what special properties they might have had. On and on the man went, all without seemingly pausing to take a breath. It was a bit frightening if I didn't already know this was just how he got at times. By the time he wound down and was running out of potions to go over, the sunlight was beginning to peek over the roofs. The sound of footsteps echoed out as the rest of the market sellers were heading out to open up their stalls.

Taking this as my cue, I smiled at the taller man and said, "Maybe drop by after you're finished selling. I got some things I'm willing to trade with you." Now that his attention had been grasped, I walked on back to my stall, ready to begin the morning.

Before long, the market was awash with the sound of sellers opening their stalls and putting up their displays. All along the street, people were setting their wares up; small time smiths, fabric makers, cobblers, carpenters, potters, caligraphers, leatherworkers, jewelers. On and on the street went with all manner of people, all just itching for the moment when customers would come by. 

In no short amount of time the sun began to rise higher, and the city and her people were waking, all ready to embrace the day. All the merchants in the market were feeling the rush of potential profit, myself included. The market was only open one day a week, so every stall was practically frothing at the mouth to make as much as they could. I was no different, of course. With luck, I'd be walking away from my stall with a full and heavy coinpurse.

I wasn't the only hunter in Zantile, so my typical stock didn't always sell extraordinarily well. Though, I did have the upper hand with the fact I was one of the only hunters who brought in more exotic beasts at times. Owlbear, manticore, cyclops, basilisk; anything I could hunt, I'd try to turn a profit off of. Some of my hunts even had the added bonus of being targets for one of the guilds, which meant even more money in my pocket. Plus, doing those favors for the guilds meant making connections. Making connections also meant more money in the long run. So, all in all, it was usually a win-win scenario. Sure, there had been the occassional brush with death, but that's just the consequences of going after monsters.

That day, however, I lacked any of those rare catches, so I would have to get by on just the usual things.

In short order, all the other market stalls were open, and all that remained was the short window of time until the crowds of potential customers would appear. The wind had warmed by now, the chill having melted away. A perfect morning. In the distance, the sound of doors opening and of window shutters being thrown wide, announced the waking of the citizens. As the noise of the mass of people grew increasingly closer, the excitement of making a good day's profit became ever more intoxicating.

The scuff of boots on stone reached the corner of the block, and the first wave of people entered the street. Market Day had finally begun. A chorus of voices and yells filled the air as the merchants and craftspeople doggedly pursued their profits. Looking around, one would think the stall owners were living on their last sol with the almost desperate way some of them tried to wring out a sale. But, such was the norm on Market Day, everyone doing their best to sell their wares.

A curious onlooker arrived before me then, their eyes scanning the furs on display. A rather plain looking kobar, he was. The dirty brown fur coating his body was neatly trimmed, and mostly hidden beneath his clothing. Still rather young, he was shorter than an average kobar, but that wasn't saying much. Most kobarai barely reach up beyond the stall's lowest counter, they're all so damn short. This kid had to practically stand on the tips of his toes just to get a decent look at my items. Taking a second glance at him, I realized I'd seen him somewhere before. He was the son of one of the weavers further up the street. Doubtless he'd been sent to purchase some fur on behalf of his mother, who would then turn those into cloth and assuredly sell them off to a tailor. This was a common practice here in the market; we'd all sell things to one another, the sol and products flowing in a near-endless cycle from one hand to the next.

The young furred boy scratched at the side of his muzzle before looking up at me. His dark eyes had an innocent look, as if he didn't know what to do next. I decided to help him a bit.

"Found something you want to buy?"

No words came, but he nodded enthusiastically, the ears on top his head flopping around in the process. With a chipper bounce, he pointed towards the deer pelt. It was kinda cute the way he wordlessly gestured like that. 

I leaned over the counter and told the kobar boy, "That's worth about twenty sol. Did your mom give you enough for it?"

He gave a small affirmative hum and pulled out a small bag jingling with coins. After checking, I found the boy had been given double the price, so I took only the payment I needed before handing the bag back to him with a smile. 

"You're a good kid," I noted. Pushing the deer pelt out for him, I added, "On your way back to your mom, drop by to see Miss Rose. Tell her Cedric sent you, and she might give you a piece of candy."

Those big eyes of his only got bigger at the sound of getting a treat, and his tiny form nearly sprinted away the moment he grabbed the pelt. With a small amount of hidden joy, I watched as the kid made his way through the crowds, ducking and weaving around the larger adults as he did. It was rather impressive how graceful his little dodges were, as if he had done them a thousand times. Wouldn't be much of a surprise it that had been the case, though.

After that, the day went about as any other Market Day. People would come and go, peruse my items, make a purchase or two, and so on. Some of the customers were my usual ones, such as an alchemist's apprentice wanting some hawk innards for something I didn't ask about, or a tanner wanting some hide, or even just a farmer wanting one of the bear skins for a rug. I was making a pretty profit, and I hadn't even had to dip into the second bag yet. By the time I did, though, I had easily recouped my losses for the tools and such I used up to hunt all these beasties.

While I was putting up some of the things from the second bag, I overheard some passersby gossiping nonsense. Something about a rich type from the north being in town for holiday. Why someone would come to Zantile for a holiday was beyond me. The surrounding area was mostly valley or forest, so there wasn't anything interesting to see. If it wasn't just pointless gab, then perhaps they had come to check out the local guilds? A lot of them were filled with people who did good work, so it wouldn't be shocking to learn some wealthy individual would bother coming all the way down just to make a deal or two with some of them.

It wasn't long before the majority of the stock from the second bag had been sold. My lockbox was nearly full by then, the coins within glistening in the sunlight. It was a thing of beauty to see such an mass of sol. I probably didn't even need to bother with selling every last item, but more money could never hurt, after all. As the final pelt and last bit of meat was sold off, I was feeling pretty damn good. The money made would go a long way, even after spending some of it on more traps and bolts and other hunting supplies. 

The sun still looked to be a few hours away from setting, but I was already through my stock and cleaning up the counters, readying to close up. It had been a great and profitable day, and from my quick scan, it seemed I wasn't the only stall that had made it out so well. Plenty of others had a look a satisfaction about them, which could only have come from some good earnings. Even Albert across the street looked rather pleased with himself as he was tidying up the stall.

Speaking of the tall alchemist, he was beginning to walk my way, assumedly to follow up on my earlier request. 

His eyes gave a swift once over to my day's profit, and he smiled. "Glad to know you did well today," he said with not a small modicum of pride. "Now then," he said, rubbing his hands together, "what's this about a trade? Found some things out in the forests?" 

An affirmative nod came before I reached into the second bag, pulling out a smaller sack and emptying its contents out on the countertop. What fell out were some odd looking mushrooms, two kelroots, and a handful of different flower bulbs.

"I remember you telling me some of the stuff that grows in Rivrum made some decent potions," I explained as I showed off the small gathering. "Now, I'm not exactly well-versed in all the ins and outs of alchemy, but I've seen some of your things and I know which plants and such you usually use." 

Picking up a pair of the mushrooms, Albert let out a small noise as he investigated the fungi. Eyes narrowed as he turned them over this way and that to see every single inch of them, until finally his gaze returned to me. "You've got a good eye," he said. "So, what do you wanna trade 'em for? The usual?" The final sentence was accented with a knowing smile.

"I suppose I'm a bit predicatable, eh?" We shared a laugh as I walked with him towards his house, him wheeling his cart of now empty boxes behind us as we did.

The 'usual' was a blended drink Albert brewed in his spare time, some mixture of special roots and such that made a quite delicious end result. In truth, I didn't need to trade anything for it, he was always happy to just hand it over to anyone that wished to drink some. I simply felt it wrong to not return the favor, so I came up with the idea of these 'trades' so that I could at least give him something he wanted in return.

Along the short trek to his home, we talked over our day, how well the sales went, the kind of customers that came, and so on. Apparently, a new face appeared to Albert earlier in the day, some fresh-faced young man with barely the whisper of a beard on his chin. 

He explained, "He had this sad look in his eyes, and you'll never believe what he asked me."

Oh, this was sure to be good, I thought.

A soft laugh escaped him, and he quickly bit it down in order to finish, "He wanted a love potion."

"What?" My face contorted into a mixture of a scowl and a look of perplexitiy

"I know," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "He's not the first dumb kid I've gotten asking for one of those, either. But, I swear, I don't recognize him. So he can't be from here, right?"

This sparked a thought. "What if he's with that rich guy from the north?"

When Albert gave me a confused look, I went on to tell him about the gossiping I'd overheard. We shared some ideas on why someone would bother coming down to Zantile, but Albert seemed to come to the same conclusion as I did; the guilds. By then, we had crossed a small stone bridge, and were coming up onto the block where the taller alchemist resided. 

It was a nice place full of small homes and wide streets. The home we were destined for was like many of the others, and probably was built in some kind of sequence, seeing as it shared many of the same design elements of the homes around it. Strong and sturdy brick comprised the walls, a long chimney rising up from the central fireplace within, and a shingled roof. I'd be told once that it was a single construction group that made many of the homes in this section of town, and it certainly showed.

As we neared his humble abode, Albert pulled the cart up to a small shed off to the side, but didn't bother putting it away inside. Either he also wanted to have some of his homebrewed drink, or he felt it unnecessary to go through the hassle of un- and then relocking the shed just for the cart. Could have been both. 

We got inside and it was the same as it usually looked. Same wood floors, off-white plaster walls, dark wood furniture, everything was as I last visited. The cold fireplace was quickly brought to life and then my gracious host went off to retrieve a bottle of that fabled drink, while I took a seat at the nearby dining table. My eyes scanned around while I waited, but found nothing out of the ordinary. Albert seemed to live a simple life here, and didn't make changes to his living arrangements often. Or ever, really, as I could not recall a single time his place ever looked any different.

A door shut in the distance, and I knew Albert was on his way back. The moment he reappeared, I could spy that bottle of wonderful nectar. My hands instinctively grabbed for it the instant he set it down on the table, and I gulped it down like a man dying of thirst. Like a man possessed, I guzzled the entire thing, the sweet taste filling my head and giving me a slight buzz. 

I could hear my friend laughing. "You're like a suckling babe desperate for it's milk."

With the liquid now all gone, I placed the container back down and took a much needed breath. Ignoring his comment, I changed topics with, "So, how's it going with Rose?"

His amber eyes moved towards the surface of the table. "It's...going." A small uncomfortable shift of his body told me all I need to know.

Balancing the bottle on its neck, I sighed out, "Far be from me to give love advice, but I think you should just be honest with her."

He stammered, "And what about you?" 

"What about me?" I raised an eyebrow in anticipation.

"You..." The pause gave away he had nothing. It was almost sad.

"See? Can't even think of anything," I teased.

"Shut up."

A bubble of laughter left me and I responsed, "Tell her how you feel. Trust me, it'll work out." Albert opened his mouth, but I cut him off, already knowing what he was about to say. "Because I'm not blind or stupid. I see the way she looks at you. Just talk to her. Or do you want to end up wasting another year on this stupid puppy love nonsense?"

Before he could come up with a response, a loud knock came from the front door. We both turned to look in the direction of the sound.

I glanced back at the alchemist. "Expecting someone?"

His brow furrowed in confusion. "No," he said as he rose from his seat, heading over to the entrance. I followed after, my steps a tad cautious.

Pulling the door open, we were met with the sight of a familiar kobar vixen. She was a small thing, like most kobarai. Her fur was the reddish-orange color of cooling embers, but most of it was hidden away beneath hempen clothing and a padded leather apron. Just beneath the upward-facing pointed ears rested a set of odd looking goggles that I'd never seen her without. In one small hand, she gripped a blasting rod. Strapped on her back was an old, beat-up satchel.

I was the one who broke the momentary silence. "Pram? What are you doing here?"

Despite her small size, the short fox woman easily brushed past the much taller Albert and stood before me. The top of her head came up to just above my waist, so she had to crane her neck up high in order to make eye contact. In those icy blue eyes, a fire could be seen blazing.

"Cedric not wait for Pram," she angrily whined. The blasting rod was brought up to poke at my chest. "How both do business when he not at stall? Now Pram have march through town searching him."

A small amount of shame entered me at my own forgetfulness. "I'm sorry, Pram," I tried to apologize. "It just completely slipped my mind."

The vixen stamped a foot down in anger. "Cedric make promise. Say he be there." She poked me again with the blasting rod, and I almost worried she would set it off on me.

Easing the tip of the weapon away from my body, I did my best to appease her. "I'll make it up to you, I swear."

"Just like he swear days ago?"

"I still have your stuff in my bag," I explained, pointing over to the near empty sack by the door. "We can take care of this right now."

Blue eyes shifted over to the nearby sack, and she slowly lowered the rod, no longer threatening me with it. Reaching behind her, she swiveled the satchel around to her front and produced a metal cube from within. I, meanwhile, grabbed my bag and rummaged around until I found the item Pram desired to trade for. It was a smaller sack full of various animal bones, mostly rabbit and badger. Pram had requested this trade a few days prior, but had not told me why she wanted bones, but I had my guesses. Chief among them was I thought she might be making some kind of broth, which only frightened me. Pram fancied herself a cook as a small hobby, but she always used the strangest ingredients, usually by asking me to get them for her.

We handed over our selected items, and Pram sniffed the sack of bones before putting them away into her own bag with a triumphant smile. I did the same wih the small metallic cube. 

During this entire exchange, Albert had kept his mouth shut, but I could see a soft smile. This only made me want to mess with him more about his own issues with Rose. But that was later.

For now, though...

I clapped my hands together loudly and proclaimed, "Let's go to the tavern and get something to eat. My treat."

~~~

"I know I said it was my treat, but don't you think you're taking things a bit too far?"

We were sat at a small table in the corner of the tavern. The Rusty Dagger was a nice place, despite its odd name. Good food, good drink, and an owner who knew how to run her business. The interior was divided into two sections: the kitchen in the back and the dining area in the front. The kitchen was small, giving the rest of the tavern a lot of room to house as many tables and chairs as was needed. It wasn't a particularly busy evening, so there was plenty of space when we arrived. Almost as soon as we sat down, Pram and Albert wasted no time in ordering. And ordering. And ordering. Both had managed to devour several full plates and a good few mugs of beer between them. 

The only consolation I had in this was knowing they'd be giving themselves stomach aches come the morning.

In between bites of some roasted pork, Albert spoke up. "Oh come on, I saw how much you were making today. You can afford to be a little generous to your friends, right?"

"Right right," chimed in Pram. "This apology for break promise, too." She was still holding onto that, even after getting those bones she wanted. She stabbed her forked into the slab of beef before her a little too harshly, and all while side eyeing me as she did.

One of the tall alchemist's thin arms reached over and dragged a plate of beans over to his side of the table. "Speaking of which," he mentioned after munching down a spoonful of the little nuggets, "what was that metal thing, anyway?"

"It's a trap of sorts," I answered while producing the cube from out my pocket. It was small enough to fit in the palm of my hand, with little grooved edges and a small spiral pattern on a few of the faces. Its mostly silver surface was tinted with the faintest bit of red.

Albert looked at me in disbelief. "That thing," he said, his tone clearly skeptical, "is a trap? What do you catch with it, bugs?"

"Catch big animal." Pram had elected to interupt the conversation. From her high chair, which was the only way she was able to reach the table effectively, she put on a smug smile as she continued. "Pram made cube with rhubrum, so it part magic."

The dark haired man's face morphed into one full of confusion. "Rhubrum? How in the world did you get your hands on that?"

That smug aura of hers only increased, her ego rising up as she stood up on the chair. With chest puffed out and head held high, Pram answered, "Dura and Pram had customer order much items. Customer so happy with their work, he give them bonus pay, and small amount rhubrum as show thanks."

"Who in the world just gives away rhubrum like that?" Albert's bewilderment had only increased, it seemed. It was understandable, of course. Rhubrum wasn't exactly something you just casually hand over on a whim. I suspected there was more to Pram's story than she let on.

The small fire colored fox shrugged her shoulders and responded, "Pram not care. She just happy have it, so she decide practice her artificer skill by make new thing." 

Pram and her sister Dura worked along the market street, selling small items they smithed themselves. Usually, they sold things like nails, knives, locks, those sorts of things. However, on top of also doing some hobbying as a cook, Pram also did some minor work as an artificer from time to time, typically doing repairs on people's rhubritech items. Every now and then, she would come up with something all her own, though, like the trap she traded me.

My gaze shifted over to the alchemist on my right and I asked him, "Wanna know how it works?" When he gave a small nod, I illuminated on the small cube. "As Pram pointed out, it's made using an echo rhubrum. This allows it to hear certain noises, in a sense, and then repeat those sounds later." To demonstrate, I pushed a small, thin button on the top of the cube. A moment later, a loud screech of a hawk could be heard emanating from the small metal object. Many of the tables nearby turned their attention to ours at the obnoxious interuption into their lives. 

After giving a few apologetic shrugs to the people around us, I snatched the cube up and placed it back into my pocket. The nearby tables eventually lost interest and returned to whatever it was they were all doing.

Albert tilted his head for a moment and asked Pram, "When did you have time to recreate a hawk call?" 

Still standing on the chair, and with no intention of sitting back down judging by her prideful stance, the small fox proclaimed, "When Pram finish make trap, she go woods and find animal Cedric never have call before. She think use bear, but that much danger, so she settle on hawk. Luck found her and one made nest nearby, so all she need do is get it yell. Simple task for genius Pram." That last line was finished off with a few small nods, as if the little vixen was vouching for herself.

"Wait," the alchemist said. Turning his focus to me, he asked, "You have more of those?"

"Of course." I said this in an alost dumbfounded manner, shocked he even had to ask. "They come in handy. Why wouldn't I have more?" I then listed off a few other of these little call boxes Pram had traded with me before. I could still recall the first time she gave me one; it held the call of a female elk within. That one was certainly useful come mating season. Lots of hide and antlers to be turned into sol during market days.

As I got done with my listing, the little smith jumped in. "Pram make Cedric many trap. Him hunter, so need good way to capture beasties. Because Pram know he use lure, she think clever way of make own. And what better clever way than practice artificer skill same time?"

Alfred raised an eyebrow. "You know, when you first mentioned being an artificer, I thought you were kidding." As the small craftswoman furrowed her brows and pursed her lips, the alchemist chose his next words more carefully. "What I meant is that rhubrum is pretty hard to come by, especially for people like us." He meant the market sellers. Seeing as none of us had shops, and only had one day a week to make our sales, it meant many of us weren't exactly living the high life. "I mean, how do you even get your hands on any of that stuff, anyway?"

The slight tinge of anger left her then and she placed one clawed finger against her lips. "Secret," she said with a smile.

While my two friends continued to talk about Pram's side business as an artificer, my attention drifted elsewhere. In the distance, at the far side of the tavern, I noticed a certain figure entering the kitchen. They were broad-shouldered and with skin the color of the mid-morning sky. Finally, I thought to myself, was beginning to wonder if he would even show up at all. I had ulterior motives for going to the tavern today. Sure, spending time with my friends was a positive, but there was more.

When a tavern maid wandered by, I tried to her attention. She was a pretty thing, with short curly hair and a face like a pixie. I'd seen her working a few times before, but wasn't really familiar with her, so wasn't sure how to approach things once she finally walked over to the table.

"Anything I can help you with, sir?" Her tone was light and friendly, the kind you'd expect from one new to working a service job. One day she'd relax and become a bit more open, less subservient in her role.

The alchemist and smith both got quiet when she approached, giving me their full combined attention. Three sets of eyes stared at me as I chose my words. "Uh, yea. Was wondering if you could go get Laiu for me." She frowned at the mention of the name, but quickly corrected with a return to a friendly smile. I went on with, "I saw him head to the back. Get him for me, please."

Silently, she wandered off towards the kitchen, and I could feel the eyes of my companions on me. I glanced at both of them and said, "What?" 

Pram nudged my shoulder, asking, "Who Laiu person? Why Cedric talk him?"

For a brief moment, I thought of not answering. But then, I realized there wasn't much harm in letting them know. It wasn't really something secretive, after all.

"Laiu's how I get some of my hunts." When both Albert and Pram gave me confused looks, I explained further, "How do you think I manage to get a lot of the monsters I've dealt with?" 

"The guilds," the tall alchemist said not a fraction of a second later.

"Yes yes, guilds," the kobar woman affirmed.

Nodding along, I stated, "Yes, but they're not the only way. Sometimes, I come here and talk to Laiu. He's got connections, and passes along information to me if there's any interesting beasts that've been sighted." For a fee, of course, but that wasn't entirely necessary to the explanation. Being the tavernkeep's brother, Laiu was friends with merchants from outside of Zantile, as well as traveling couriers and caravaneers. I could never remember how our little transactions first began, I just knew he was the man to go to if I wanted something fun to hunt. 

While my two friends accepted the answer, I could tell Albert at least had more on his mind. His eyes were thin slits and his mouth pulled to one side, as if he was trying to sort out what question to ask first. However, at nearly the same moment his lips parted, the broad-shouldered man appeared from the back, and I stood up from the table.

Dull green eyes met mine, and the tavernkeep's brother made his way over. Laiu wasn't particularly tall. He was maybe a head shorter than Albert, which placed him just beneath my eye level. Like most albeis, his skin was blue, though Laiu's was a darkened shade closer to purple. He wore simple fitting clothes underneath his kitchen smock. Because I had caught him so early in his shift, he didn't even have any food stains on him yet.

"Evening." His voice came out slow as he eyed the two onlookers beside me. I had never talked with him with others so close around before, so it made sense he had a bit of caution.

My arms waved to my sides, gesturing to my friends. "Don't mind them," I told the wide alb, "they're friends." With that said, I took my seat and offered the empty chair. "So, got anything for me today?"

A brief raising of a brow came as the immediate response before he sat down, leaning into the table with one elbow resting against the surface. "Two things," he said, holding up two fingers for emphasis. "One good, one...not so good."

Well, that second one certainly piqued some curiosity. "Well, let's hear 'em."

"First one's a simple thing. A warg's been spotted over in Nal." The broad blue man held a short pause, as if adding some kind of dramatic effect to all this. "A big one, male. No female or pups to worry about, so shouldn't be too much of an issue if you wanna take it."

Despite how pricey some warg fur could be, I wasn't much interested in heading to Nal for one of them, even if it was a big one. I reached into a pocket and placed a handful of sol onto the table, pushing the coins towards Laiu. "And the not so good one?" 

The hand not already on the table quickly snatched away the money, retreating back underneath. He took a deep breath, then released it in a long sigh. His eyes looked to the sides before he leaned in a bit closer and made his voice softer. "You didn't hear this, but I got a reliable source that says a unicorn is somewhere up in Whitefall."

The info hit me like a ton of bricks. Out of the corner of my vision, I could see both Albert and Pram had widened their eyes in shock. A unicorn? This was something truly unique.

But, I had to be sure of this. "This source," I said, echoing his whispering, "they're not just bullshitting?"

Nodding, he answered, "He saw it himself. Described it just like the tales; long flowing golden mane, sleek silver fur, eerie glowing yellow eyes, and a spiraling horn. Said he couldn't believe his own eyes, but there was no denying it was real when it looked right at him before sprinting off into the forest."

I could feel a smile pulling on the edges of my lips at this news. There was no way I could possibly pass up this opportunity. Unicorns didn't just pop up every day, after all. To see one was the kind of thing most people dreamed about, and here was the rare chance to actually live up to said dream, and even hunt it to boot. I couldn't even describe just how excited I felt at the moment. 

Albert pitched in a thought. "Wait. Whitefall's supposed to be a pretty dangerous place, right? Full of monsters not commonly seen elsewhere?"

Laiu gave a solemn nod as he said, "I'm only telling you because I like you, Cedric. But even then, I still think you shouldn't go."

Taken aback, I retorted, "What, think I can't handle myself out there?" My reputation in Zantile as a monster hunter should have eased those worries. I'd dealt with nasty beasts before, and he of all people would know that more than anyone. The fact my usual infobroker was doubting me like this felt like he'd just punched me.

His face got real serious then. His lips a thin line, eyes turned into a hard stare. "You're a good hunter. But the things in Whitefall are above your league."

Another punch. I could feel my face mirroring his own when I bit back, "Then why even bother telling me in the first place?" 

Twin shoulders shrugged back as he answered. "I'm nothing if not honest. Think what you want, but I do like you. That's why I'm warning you about rushing off like some fool." Seemingly having said his peace, Laiu wished our table a good day before disappearing back to the kitchen. I watched him vanish behind the door, my stare still hard and cold. 

Silence. Neither Albert nor Pram could find anything to speak about. I, on the other hand, was quiet out of anger. Now of course, I did understand Whitefall's many dangers. Or at least, I'd heard tales and stories of them. I knew it wasn't some simple picnic spot. Whitefall had been the center of several questionable things in the past; demon-worshipping cults, magic created chimeras, ghosts (not that I believed that), and more. Above all these was, of course, the fact the forest was home to many a monster. No one ventured into Whitefall. To do so was suicide. 

And yet, I couldn't shake the notion of going there out of my head. I mean, a unicorn? It was a once in a liftime hunt, the kind of story you'd pass down a family for generations. I would go there, hunt the mystical beast and come home with it's beautiful hide and horn as trophies, where I would proudly display them in my home as a testament to the day I killed a legend. I'd regale any who would listen of the tale of the hunt, preaching day in and out of how I conquered a living myth.

"Cedric not go, yes?" Pram's words iterrupted my thoughts, bringing me back to the present at the table. 

Regaining my focus, I turned to see Pram much closer than last I remembered. She had at some point scooted her chair right next to mine, and was standing atop it once again, one hand pressed close to her chest while the other was resting against my shoulder. The fire in her eyes from earlier had all but vanished, and had been replaced by a small amount of worry.

I shrugged her hand off my shoulder and responded, "Of course I'm going. You think I would miss this?"

From my right, I heard Albert saying, "I agree with Laiu. I don't think it's a good idea to go." He tried sounding like his usual self, but his voice betrayed his unease. 

"Yes yes," Pram said, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Cedric stay Zantile," she pleaded, returning her small hand back to my shoulder. "Safer here Zantile. No scary beasty kill him here."

"Oh come off it, both of you," I snarled. "I've dealt with dangerous hunts before, even told you guys about them. What makes this any different from all those times?" I knew what the difference was. We all knew. But to have my own friends against me on this? Laiu I could sort of understand. We weren't really friends, barely even acquaintences. He just supplied me with information. But Albert and Pram? To have them doubt my skills was more than just a simple punch to the ego. My ego was was downright assaulted.

Although, I did have a trick up my sleeves to get both my friends to change their tunes. I just had to hope it worked.

Taking a small sip of my beer, I devised how best to broach the topic. While my two friends repeated their worries, my mind formed the words for me. It was time.

Clearing my throat, I got ready to speak. Albert and Pram fell silent, wondering how I'd debate this issue, likely. "You know, Whitefall is more than just home to monsters," I said. I saw Albert getting ready to argue, so I started with him first. "There's got to be tons of alchemical reagents and whatnots deep in those woods." The alchemist in question's mouth opened, but no words came. His silence spoke for him, so I continued on, "Just think about it. All those strange plants and such could definitely make for really profitable potions, not to mention your guild friends would surely be happy for the chance to research the effects those concoctions might have. I could easily pick up some of that stuff for you while I'm there."

Lips moved, but still no words came from Albert. He was quietly murmuring to himself, breathlessly debating with himself. The knowledge I'd gotten to him so easily brought no small amount of joy to me. However, there was still the tiny fox woman to deal with. Turning my head, I saw her with a judgmental look about her. But, the offer I had for her was just as enticing as Albert's.

When I looked like I was ready to convince her, Pram shut me up. "Pram not easy talk out. Not like Albert. She smart enough not fall tricks. Cedric bad friend trick Albert that way."

"Maybe," I partial agreed. "Even so, it doesn't mean I'm wrong. I'm sure the alchemists' guild had heaps of info on the possible ingredients up in Whitefall." Changing topic, I began with, "Speaking of which, I'll bet the blacksmiths' guild might like to have one of their own survey the area for whatever ores and minerals might be up there. Probably some good money in mining it out and selling it off."

The vixen smirked at me, the smugness returning full force. "Cedric dumb fool. Pram never join guild."

Shit. Well, there went that plan. Now, I had to improvise.

Quickly my mind raced to come up with something, anything. From out of the blue, my mind pulled up an idea. "Isn't there supposed to be old Archan ruins in Whitefall?" No reaction from the little smith came, so I pushed on. "There could still be some rhubrum stuff holed away in those ruins. Maybe even blueprints for things no one's ever seen before. You could be the first artificer to make them."

For a brief moment, the smug look dropped and I could tell Pram's brain was overloading her with the possibilities, but she swiftly shook her head clear. Now, her icy blue eyes had the same angry fire from before in them. 

"Cedric terrible friend doing that," she said, a small hand shooting down to the blast rod resting at her side. "Pram never be seduced easily." The tip of the rod was then pointed squarely at me, once again threating me. With a hard look, the vixen asked, "Why Cedric want go badly anyway?"

The feeling of people's stares clawed at the back of my mind, and sure enough, all the nearby tables were watching our little exchange. With blasting rod in hand, Pram repeated her question, and I could see a few people moving as if getting ready to run. The tavern maids were all hiding behind countertops and such. Even Laiu was poking his head out from the kitchen to see what was going on.

Trying to eleveate the situation, I eased the tip of the rod away, telling Pram, "We're putting this on hold for a minute," then gestured to the faces around us. Her eyes darted around, and she seemed to get the hint, as she put away the weapon and calmly sat back down. I put a hand on Albert's shoulder and asked him, "You ready to go?"

A jolt ran through him at the touch, as he jumped in surprise. Looking up, he finally spoke aloud. "Yea." It wasn't much, but it was something.

I left a good sized sum of sol on the table and led my friends out of the tavern. I could feel the crowd's eyes were still on us up until the door closed behind us.

"Now that we're out of there," Albert started, "I think you--" 

"Not here," I said, cutting him off. I motioned to the street still flush with foot traffic and added, "Back at your place."

It didn't take long to retread the path to the alchemist's home, but all the while we walked, I could tell both he and the little would-be artificer were coming up with more arguments. I, too, was devising my own debating points. I was going, whether they wanted me to or not, but if I could at least get them to stop worrying, it would make things a bit easier.

When we got back inside Albert's place, things were quiet for a few seconds. Each of us gathering our thoughts and choosing our words. 

I took the first step. "I don't know why you're both so worried." Before they could object, I repeated an earlier point. "I've been on dangerous hunts before."

Pram stomped over and poked one clawed finger into my stomach. "And Laiu person say Whitefall worse. Above Cedric league. Cedric dummy fool if he still think good idea to go." 

"She's right," Albert joined in. "Sure, you've dealt with something mean like a manticore before. Once." He put heavy emphasis on that part. "But Whitefall's crawling with things like drakes, wyverns, cockatrices, ogres, and lots more shit you've never even so much as seen. And on top of that, they're all in there together. You're suicidal if you want to go."

My arms folded over my chest in defiance as I gave my response. "I don't care, I'm still going. I can't just let this chance slip through my fingers." Admittedly, I knew I was being a bit childish, but I was adamant about this. Being a monster hunter is one thing. But to hunt a living myth? Now there was something to brag about.

"Cedric die at Whitefall!" Pram poked at my stomach again, the claw dangerously close to stabbing into soft flesh. "He giant fool to toss life away. Leave friend Pram and Albert here, wondering if ever come back." Her voice faltered, cracking slightly as she spoke. "Every big hunt, Cedric in danger. We two know, understand, danger. But, Cedric never think. We wait for him each hunt, pray to gods he not die." Pale blue eyes left my face and shied away towards the floor. The cracks in her voice became more noticable. "Or...Pram pray, at least. She not want lose friend Cedric. He good friend, and Pram be sad if he never return. And Whitefall...Whitefall too much danger, too much nasty beast."

Sighing, I patted the top of her furry head, rubbing the soft hairs around her ears. "I get that you guys are worried, and I'm thankful to even have people who would bother worrying over me like this, but even so I'm still going. I have to do this."

"Why?" Albert rejoined, his tone filled with disbelief and anger combined. "Why do you 'have' to do this?"

"Because I just do," I calmly stated. "Look. The way you stopped and thought about it when I mentioned the reagents and stuff? That feeling of temptation and the thrill of new discovery you felt? Well, that's what's going on in my head about this whole thing."

I could see a look of realization come over him. The taller man opened his mouth as if to make a counterargument, but it was not his voice that next spoke.

"Pram have idea!" When Albert and I gave her questioning looks, the little fox nodded and added, "Good idea, too. Pram go Whitefall with Cedric."

"What?" Albert and I spoke in unison. Pram looked up at us with a prideful smile, as if self-congratulatory over getting one over on us.

"Yes yes. Pram idea great." Stabbing one clawed finger in my direction, she said, "Cedric dummy fool if he think going Whitefall alone good move. His death only surely happen. But," she noted, raising the finger to accent her words, "Pram and Cedric together, his death be avoided."

"And what makes you think I'd take you along?"

One blue eye narrowed as she tilted her furry head. "Oh? He think Pram take no for answer? She join anyway, his approval not needed."

This was stupid, and I repeated that aloud. "What about your sister? You can't just leave town for however long this trip could end up taking."

Without hesitating, she replied, "Dura handle self easily. Pram will tell Dura why she leaving, and Dura understand." 

Albert jumped into the conversation. "I can't let the two of you go on your own. You'll just get yourselves killed before even making it halfway there."

The two of my friends shared an understanding look between them, a silent agreement on their sudden plans. 

Things were getting out of hand. I had to put my foot down. "This is not up for negotiating. This is a trip I have to take for myself, I don't need you guys putting yourselves through this for nothing."

"It's not for nothing," Albert said. He approached me and draped an arm over my shoulders. "If we stay, we're just gonna be wondering every day when you might come back, if you even do. At least if we go with you, we won't need to worry ourselves sick. Besides, you've never been to Whitefall before, so you're definitely not going alone."

Pram walked up and poked my stomach once more. "If Cedric go Whitefall and die, then all go and die together." A smile stretched across her muzzle and she got in close, wrapping her arms around me in a small embrace. 

With a defeated sigh, I let out, "I suppose I can't convince you to let me do this by myself, eh?"

"Absolutely not."

"No nope."

Taking a deep breath, I gathered my thoughts. If they were really going to come with, then we had to make a lot of preperations before we did anything. We'd need plenty of food and drink for the trip, some extra sol in case we need anything along the way, a guide of some sort who would know the area, a cart or wagon or some such, all sorts of things. Truth be told, I wasn't entirely upset the two of them wanted to join. It was actually a bit of a nice feeling, knowing they were willing to drop everything.

"Fine then," I stated, letting out the breath I'd been holding. "First things first, we gotta get ourselves an escort. Where do you keep your pen and paper?"

~~~

It had been two days since we posted the message on the Rusty Dagger's notice board. It was a simple thing, a request for an experienced escort for a journey to Whitefall. Someone who had knowledge of the area and could easily get us in and out without any trouble.

Almost as soon as I had brought up the idea, we'd left Albert's home and headed back to the tavern to put up the note. Thinking on the side of common damn sense, I'd written down that any interested parties were to meet us at the tavern around sundown. This gave Albert, Pram and I plenty of time to gather the supplies needed for the trip. Little did we know, no one would show up that evening. Or even the one after that. 

So, we were lounging around the tavern two days after the initial message went up. The sun was low in the sky, threatening to tip below the horizon. And still, no one had even whispered about being enticed by our request. 

The little fox smith spoke up, her first words the entire afternoon in fact. "If no one escort, what then?"

"Good question," I mused. Without really thinking about it, my mouth formed the words, "Probably just go on without one." 

Albert remarked, "It's only been two days. Why are you both so impatient?"

"Because I want to hunt, dammit."

"And Pram want see mystery place Whitefall." Her little eyes darted up towards me for a brief second and then she added, "Dammit." It was a simple thing, but it was enough to get a small chuckle out of me, which in turn was rewarded with a small smile on the short smith's face.

An annoyed huff came from the alchemist as Albert rolled his eyes. "Honestly, you're like children. Can't even wait for things to all get settled in place before wanting to rush off into certain doom."

"If you're so worried about 'certain death,' you're more than welcome to stay home," I countered.

"Oh please." He grasped hold of his mug and took a long helping of the contents within. When the drink was set back down, he continued, "I can't let you two idiots go alone. If you don't have a master alchemist around, you're just gonna end up picking some berries off a bush and die to poison."

It was my turn to roll my eyes. "Wow, so much confidence in us. Thanks." It was then I had a somewhat sinister idea pop into my head. Sitting up in my chair, I looked my alchemist friend dead in the eyes and said, "You know, this is a perfect opportunity for you to finally go tell Rose how you feel."

At once, his entire body went rigid and stiff, his face contorted into one of embarassment and shame. He tried to recover, and spoke out, "I'll just tell her when we get back."

"Bullshit you will," I bit back, raising my voice and slamming a fist down onto the table. The drinks shook from the force of the sudden impact, and Albert's rigid body jumped in surprise. "There's a chance we might not even make it back in one piece. If you don't confess now, you could very well never have the chance to ever again."

"...well, I'm not really sure if-"

"Albert go talk Rose!" Pram had jumped into the fray so suddenly, it surprised me enough to cause my own body to jolt for a moment. "If he never tell his love, how he ever be with her? He want only look at afar?" Albert tried to eek out another excuse, but Pram insisted. "He deserve be happy. Now go talk her and admit love!"

Perhaps it was the combination of both Pram and I ganging up on him like that. Perhaps it was him finally being fed up with his own inaction. Whatever the true cause, Albert downed the rest of his beer, stood up in silence, and marched out of the tavern. With back straight, shoulders wide, and head held high, he looked the picture of confidence. In the back of my mind, I assumed he was playing it up for our sake, and would surely revert to his usual self the instant he passed through the doors. Regardless of any of that, I was rooting for him.

Ok, so maybe pushing my friend to finally tell the woman he loves how he feels wasn't entirely 'sinister.' But, from his perspective, I could bet he was none too thrilled I pulled this up out of nowhere like that. While Albert was gone, Pram and I elected to pass the time with a rousing game of cards. Simple, yes. But effective enough to kill time. And still, no sign of any takers for the escort job. 

Outside, the moon was surely beginning its ascent as its golden cousin was disappearing beneath the skyline. The streets would be emptying, people would be going home, and the usual night crowds would be just starting their routines. The tavern itself was also losing some of its customers for the evening, many of them vanishing out the doors and likely heading off to bed. Even the workers were exchanging their shifts, one certain kitchen worker/infobroker among them, as they all left in a large group once the night workers arrived. 

As the fresh faced workers got about their businesses, in came the night customers. Because I didn't normally stick around the Rusty Dagger after hours rather often, some of these people were new to me. Some, I could recognize from town, either as my own customers or just people I'd seen more than once out on the streets. Others, however, I had no idea who they were. They might have been from town and I'd just never encountered them before, or they could have been new arrivals that were looking for a place to call home. Or, more likely, they were people journeying through the area and needed a decent place to stop for the night. 

It didn't matter what I thought of any of them, really, as I didn't see myself going up to any and sparking up a conversation. So, I went back to nursing my beer and contemplating on all the ways we could make it through Whitefall if no escort ever came. I also felt a tiny nagging feeling about how long it had been since Albert left to go see Rose. An entire hour had gone by and he still wasn't back. Could have been a good thing, I told myself. Knowing the woman, she might have happily jumped the poor alchemist's bones the moment he finally stopped being a coward. Of course, had she initiated things herself, she could have done said jumping bones far earlier. Those two were made for each other, in my mind. Both hopeless morons when it came to romance.

In my hand, I held a combination combination of cards and was just about to set it down and claim victory when Pram dropped her own cards and revealed she had a better hand. 

"Pram win again," she said with a smug and self-satisfied smile.

I waved her off with a , "Yea yea," before something caught my eye. There, in the corner of the room, by the notice board, an unfamilar alb was examining our request letter. Or at least, he was in front of it. There were a few other flyers and posters and other such nonsense surrounding it, so I was only fooling myself if I thought he was actually considering our quest. 

My gaze was glued onto the blue-skinned man as one of his hands reached up and pulled at the poster I had hung up on the board.

"Holy shit." My words were barely a whisper as the poster was pulled free from it's hanging nail and the alb brought it closer to read, then looked around the tavern.

My small kobar friend heard my near silent swear and followed my eyeline over to the now possible escort, whereupon she repeated my words and breathed out an added, "Thank Xaela."

With widened eyes, I saw the alb begin his short walk over to our table, so I quickly got about moving some of the plates and mugs to allow a better seat for who I hopes would make for a good guide. Pram followed my lead and jumped onto the table to help shift things about, and I could feel rather than see the man's coming approach. By the time we were done clearing a space for him, he had already arrived and was holding in his hand the request.

He placed the poster onto the table. "This yours?" His voice was gruff, like he was chewing gravel while he talked. He wasn't too tall, perhaps just a slight bit more so than myself, but otherwise nothing out of the ordinary. He did, however, have very broad shoulders, similar to Laiu. He wore a rather confident look about him, his stance one of a man capable of accomplishing whatever he set his mind to. His clothing was heavy with dirt from the road, and though I wouldn't admit it aloud, he had a noticeable scent to him. Likely he hadn't had a good bath in a few days, if I had to guess. 

When neither Pram nor myself answered right away, he repeated his question louder, pushing the poster across the table over to us for emphasis. 

I looked into his muddy brown eyes and responded in the affirmative, following it with, "So, I take it you're interested in the job?"

"Sure am." He flashed a brief smile and took the vacant seat for himself. "Name's Vaughn." He thrust one hand outwards, waiting for a friendly reciprocation.

Surprisingly fast, Pram shot across the table and returned the alb's gesture. "Pram named Pram," she said with a chirp. With rapid movements, she shook his much larger hand in both of hers rather vigorously before swiftly retreating to her seat. "She happy escort finally show up."

The alb named Vaughn was too dumbstruck to say anything about what just happened, so I reached out and gave a firm handshake, telling him, "And I'm Cedric. Albert's away on some...personal business at the moment, but he's our third."

When he finally regained his senses, he spoke slowly. "So...why do you want to go to Whitefall?"

My shoulders moved upwards in a shrug. "That's sort of a hush hush kind of thing, if that makes any sense."

Vaughn's eyes narrowed and a frown creased his mouth. "If you aren't going to tell me, then I can't accept the job. And I doubt you're gonna get to be picky about an escort through Whitefall." 

I hated to admit it, but he was right. After all, we hadn't had any takers since putting up the notice. This Vaughn character was the first person the whole time who even showed a hint of interest. However, I didn't really like the idea of openly speaking about the possibilities of a unicorn being around. Might spark some other people to take up a similar journey as my own.

But, just as I having these thoughts, Pram leaned over the table. Her small frame pressed down onto the surface, and she said in a low voice quiet enough just for us to hear, "Cedric told unicorn around area."

The blue-skinned man's eyebrows raised and he sat back in his chair, arms folding across his chest. "Really now..." His frown wavered and was replaced by a pensive look. "Kinda hard to believe, but I can at least understand why you'd like to keep it under wraps now." 

Glaring at Pram, I pushed her back into her seat and gave a short warning to "Watch your mouth." 

She smiled. "Pram not able see own mouth." That smug grin returned, making me want to smack it off her.

"Smartass fox." After I said this, she stuck her thin pink tongue out at me. I shook my head in disbelief at her childishness, and turned my sights back to Vaughn. "Well, now you know the why. So, that just leaves whether or not you'll take the job."

"Oh, I'm taking it," he said with no sense of hesitation. I didn't have long to feel the sense of excitement on hearing that when he added, "There's just the matter of my payment to discuss." 

"Of course," I breathed. "I understand an escort for three is gonna be costly, and that's not even getting into the fact we're asking you to take us through a dangerous area." After a slight pause, I continued, "But, I'm willing to pay whatever the price is for this endevour."

His smile came back at my words. "I'm happy to hear that, because my offer is two thousand sol. Upfront, too."

"Upfront?" Pram bounced up into a standing position on her chair. "Why he want upfront? If he die Whitefall, not able use money anyway."

His broad shoulders moved upwards in a shrug and his face scrunched up, one corner of his mouth pulled tightly to the side as he explained, "Just my policy when it comes to these more dangerous jobs."

"Pram has a point," I noted. "Why get it all now? There's a chance something might happen to you, then what good does all that sol do you?" When he didn't seem to budge, I moved the conversation along with a proposal. "How about this: I pay you half now, and you get the other half when all of us get back here once this is all over?"

His eyes closed tight and a hanf was brought up to rub at a spot in the middle of his forehead. A long breath was inhaled and held for a moment before he chose to speak once more. "Fine," he said while letting out the held air. "It goes against my usual policy, but considering the pay I'd be getting either way, I'm not opposed to bending things a little."

"Excellent," I said. "But, before we shake on this and make it all official like, I have a question for you."

Eyes snapped open and he nodded, urging me to ask away.

"What's your experience concerning Whitefall?"

A harumph came and went before he found a true response. When he spoke next, his words had an air of recollection. "Three times before now. First two times were escort jobs for hunts kinda like this one. 'Course, they weren't after something quite so uh...rare." He seemed to be keeping the info about it being a unicorn silent. Either he believed my reasoning for this trip, or he was just humoring us. Didn't matter much to me either way, so long as he didn't go blurting it out like some moron. "Third one," he went on, "was a bit of a treasure hunt. The idiot wanted to collect drake eggs. Anyway, all three were successful jobs. And by that, I mean no one died." 

"But what about get hurt?" Pram's voice was soft, her face set into a look of concern. Despite all of it, she was still worried for our safety. I mean, I was as well, but I couldn't let that kind of worrying get to me.

The blue skinned Vaughn nodded in response. "Yea, none of 'em got out without their fair share of scrapes and bruises. Even I got some of my own for my troubles." To prove this, he pulled up the left sleeve of his shirt to show off a nasty looking burn scar across the upper portion of his forearm. "Bloody drakes and their fire breathing," he said with a chuckle. "We was damn lucky we didn't get caught by their fangs." 

He then went on to explain a few other encounters he'd had during his previous treks through Whitefall. Some stories about the beasts he'd seen and managed to not die from; drakes (obviously), a wyvern, a small group of harpies, one very angry gazer, and so on. It was quite impressive he managed to survive such encounters. After all, I had my own tales of survival from some of the more exotic hunts I'd done.

"So, Vaughn escort or not?" Pram's voice broke through the man's reminiscing.

A good point, I told myself. "Hm. I suppose we haven't actually settled the agreement." At this, I extended my hand out towards the man.

When he grasped my hand in return, he said, "Happy doing business with you. Hope you've got your supplies in order, because I suggest we get moving sooner rather than later. Especially due to what exactly we're going there for."

"Don't worry," I soothed while we exhanged another firm handshake, "we've got our things convered. Enough food and drink for the whole round trip, extra sol just in case, clothing, tents, everything we could need."

The little blacksmith rose up. "Pram had remind Cedric about tents, though. He completely forget."

Vaughn nodded and asked, "Now, what about this Albert fellow? You said he was dealing with personal business, but how long is that going to take?"

Before I had the chance to reply, Pram hastily said, "Albert meet Rose to tell her his love. By now, them likely in bed, showing love to other."

A laugh escaped him. It was a quick, sharp thing, fitting to his harsh voice. "Don't tell me, some sort of 'if I die I want to let her know first' kinda deal?"

Moving a hand in a wishy-washy manner, I said, "Eh, something like that. Though, we had to push him into it."

Pram backed me up and added, "Dummy Albert spend two year pine for Rose, never tell her feeling. About time fool confess."

A knowing smile formed on Vaughn's thin blue lips. "Well, let's say he did go see this Rose woman. Perhaps it'd be best if we postpone things until tomorrow morning?"

"Know Rose, she work Albert ragged all night," Pram murmured to no one in particular. 

Shaking the mental image of that far away from my mind, I stood up from the table. "Well, it's a bit of a shame we can't get things moving right this minute, but I think a good night's rest before we set out would be a very smart move for us all, anyway."

The sellsword's head nodded as he stated, "Just make sure you have my half of the pay when you come tomorrow."

I told him I wouldn't forget something so important before I headed out of the tavern. Once my feet were outside the doors, I sighed in relief. Two days, and we now had our escort. Now that that part was behind us, we could easily make our way to Whitefall in a manner of a few days. Then would come the actual hard part; tracking down the unicorn. Whitefall was a rather large expanse of land, so it'd be a difficult task locating the animal. And that was if he hadn't gotten itself killed by any of the other nasty beasts inhabiting the area. 

While thinking this over, my body moved on its own, destined for the warm embrace of my bed. The small journey from the tavern to my home was much quicker than the one from Albert's to the tavern. It was barely even three blocks away. By the time I could see the light blue roof of my home, sleep was already calling my name. The beer must've combined with the food to force this tiredness onto me. 

My home was of similar make to Albert's. The big difference was my home, like others in this section, was a bit older, with less brickwork and more wood used for the walls and such. It was good, strong wood, though. The kind used in ships to keep out water, or so I'd been told. All I knew for certain was the home had seen me through the years since first arriving to Zantile, and hadn't needed too many repairs in that time.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the door's key, ready to enter and immerse myself in the soothing arms of sleep and dreams. Just as the lock was turning, a voice spoke up from right beside me.

"Been while since Pram visit Cedric home."

The suddenness of hearing the little fox's voice caused me to jump. I spun around and saw her there, just standing close by as if I'd personally invited her along with me. "By the Eternals, woman, what are you doing here? Did you follow me home?"

"Follow?" Her furry little head titled to the side and one brow raised, disbelief clear on her face. "Pram walk right next Cedric entire time. He not notice at all?"

"Obviously not." I then repeated my earlier question. "What are you doing here?"

Her thin shoulders came upwards in a shrug. "Pram bored."

My eyes rolled without me even doing it intentionally. "Go home," I ordered the small vixen. "Sleep. We'll see each other in the morning, and then we'll be off on this little adventure of ours."

"Fine," she grunted, turning on her heel and heading back up the street.

What an odd thing for her to do, I thought. Maybe she'd had too much beer tonight.

~~~

The sun was peeking out behind the horizon, brightening up the sky with its warm light. Barely a soul was around so early, but there were a few faces to be seen. Some of the people looked to have been up all night, judging by the bags under their eyes and the disheveled appearances. No telling what the reasoning for their lack of sleep was. Some seemed drunk, if their stumbling around was to mean anything.

I'd left the house early, in hopes of getting things underway as soon as I could, only for those hopes to be dashed when I came to Pram's. A brick home, painted obnoxiously bright blue, stood before me. The home was rather large, despite the small residents within. Granted, it did house their blacksmithing forge and all their equipment, so I suppose it made sense. The forge itself was off in an oblong side of the house, and for once, I couldn't see any smoke billowing forth from the wide chimney. 

I gave a loud knock on the door, but no answer came for a good minute. 

"Oh, I swear by the Eternals," I mumbled under my breath. After a second knock produced similar results, I got a bit frustrated and raised a fist, slamming it down onto the wood hard enough to make the door shudder. The pounding rang out loud enough to wake the dead, and I felt damn annoyed enough to not care.

In the midst of this pounding, a yell came from behind the door.

"If don't stop, Dura kill knocker!"

Finally, I thought. Halting the noisemaking, I waited with oh so bated breath as the door was unlocked and swung open. Waiting on the other side was the owner of the voice, a kobar who could have been Pram's identical twin, if not for the fact this one's eyes were a deep orange. She stared up at me as she let out an annoyed huff of air from her nose.

A hand fell to rest on one hip as she narrowed her gaze. "Oh," she said, her tone as dismissive as could be, "it just Cedric."

Rather to meet her rudeness with some of my own, I gave her a friendly smile. "Good morning to you, too. Pram up?"

"With loud knocking he do, Cedric wake up whole town." Dura's eyes somehow became even thinner slits as her muzzle twisted into a deep frown.

"Well, I tried knocking like a normal person, but no one showed up," I explained. 

"So he think break door best alternative?"

Bringing a hand up to wave in her general direction, I said with a smile, "Well, it got you to open up, didn't it?"

She made a noise of pure disgust and vitriol.

"Love ya, too," I said with a wink.

After rolling her eyes, she looked over a shoulder and called out, "Pram! Stupid human Cedric here!"

The all too familiar voice shouted back, "Pram packing thing!"

"Alright," I told Dura, "just tell her to meet me back at the Rusty Dagger when she'd done. I gotta go collect Albert."

As I was walking away, I heard the short fox mutter something rather unkind, concerning me and what she could do if she had her own rusty dagger. Taking this as my cue, I hurried along towards the alchemist's home. Being as it was still early, I was partly wondering if he'd even be in yet. Rose could've kept him at her place all night, after all. I didn't have long to guess about this, however, as when I rounded the corner to his place, I could see a certain tall man with disheveled dark hair slouched down next to the entrance. 

My feet brought me closer, and I cleared my throat loud enough to make the man jolt upright. Now that I could see him clearer, it was easy to see not just his hair was a mess. His clothes looked a bit ragged, with a bit of the area near the shoulder ripped and the buttons done the wrong way so a few were missing their holes, the pants were missing their belt, and he lacked his socks. 

A smirk pulled at the corner of my mouth and I questioned, "Had a good evening?"

He gave a weak smile and nodded. I could hear a few joints pop as he stood up and stretched. A long yawn followed more popping noises as his arms spread out. Finally, he spoke, saying, "By the Eternals, that was by far the most amazing night of my life."

After a deep, self-congrulatory breath, I jokingly punched his shoulder. "Two years I've been telling you to just talk to her. Two long years."

"Yea, yea. You were right, I was an idiot. Is that what you want to hear?"

Giving the biggest shit eating grin I could, I stated, "Yes, actually. It's all I ever want to hear." 

"Asshole."

A little laugh came from both of us at the small exchange. When we settled down, I informed Albert about our escort.

After listening to the small story, he made an odd face. "Think he's being honest about his experience?"

Raising my hands in a sort of 'kinda' gesture, I noted, "If he turns out to be lying, we'll figure it out soon enough. Once we get there, if he starts flailing, then I'll just get my money back and we can come up with some kind of plan then."

"Two thousand sol, though," he mused. "I wouldn't give it up lightly if I was him. He might try fighting if it comes to it." As he spoke, Albert reached into a pocket and fished out his house key.

Grunting, I pointed out, "Even so, it'll be three on one." When he gave me a worrying look, I shrugged it off. "Look, I doubt things'll go down like that, anyway. He seems like a decent enough person from the brief interaction we had."

"You talked to the man for all of ten minutes, and you already wanna put your life in his hands?" After a short pause where I couldn't think of some clever remark, he added, "Correction: our lives."

"He's a sellsword," I said as if that was all the explanation needed. Albert looked me over as if I was speaking madness, with one of his eyes narrowed while the other was wide enough to fit a wooden beam through. It appeared as if my point needed some elaboration. 

"It doesn't matter who was gonna take the job," I began. "I was always gonna pick whoever came up and gave off a certain...energy about them. This guy's got that spark that lets me know he's most likely genuine."

"Most likely?"

I couldn't figure out what his issue was. We needed an escort, after all. And here was one willing and able, and Albert has to go and act like a child over 'trust.' It was a simple, albeit dangerous, escort job. Sellswords only care about their pay, anyway. So considering that fact, this talk about 'trust' was a bit ridiculous. That being said, I did have a good feeling about Vaughn. If he was telling the truth about his previous treks through Whitefall, then things were really looking up for us.

"Look," I spoke, getting close and dragging the tall alchemist's head down to look me at eye level, "I know I'm not the smartest guy around, but there's one thing I do know: people. Vaughn gives me this feeling like he can be trusted."

"For two thousand sol, I hope be right."

Shrugging, I questioned, "Why do you care? It isn't even your money."

"Still though. Two thousand is a lot more than I was expecting. I don't want you to end up wasting so much on this." 

Another shrug of the shoulders. "Laiu and his contacts have always proven reliable before."

Opening the door, he looked back at me as he walked in. "That's not what I mean." He paused, forcing me to ask him to go on before he actually continued. "Whitefall's a big place," he explained. "One single unicorn in that whole mess is gonna be tough to track down."

With my head raised up, I stroked my own ego. "You're talking to one of Zantile's top hunters here. I once followed the trail of a tiny hare through a thunderstorm, all the way back to its burrow. With rain coming down so hard and fast, I--"

"You don't have to sell your accomplishments," he cut in. 

Still a bit full of myself, I said, "Just making sure you understand I'm more than capable of handling this."

"I know that, it's just..." After a short breath, he listed off, "You've never been there before, never seen a unicorn and have no way of knowing how to properly track it, have never dealt with most of the creatures native to the area, and we don't even have an actual location to begin this hunt."

That last one made me think. All we'd be told by Laiu was that the beast had been seen entering the area. No actual information on where exactly, such as in the north, east, etc. I hadn't even thought about it before now, but he was right. Laiu had given us--no, me--the vaguest possible directions for this endevour. If I hadn't already had a deep level of trust due to all the good info he'd given me before now, I might have thought he did it on purpose, to send me off on some goose chase. But, knowing him, it was likely just a minor mistake. 

Taking this as a cue of sorts, I poked my head through the doorway and stated, "Get your stuff ready. We're meeting at the tavern and then we're heading out." Without even waiting for his response, I turned on my heels and walked onwards to the building in question. 

As I walked, my eyes held the glory of the sun's waking light rising up and over the entire town. Birdsong called out from all directions as the little critters woke, and those sounds were met in turn by the noises of the townspeople preparing for the day. Doors opening and closing, footsteps on stone roads, children yelling and their mothers scolding after them, the clip-clop of horse hooves as they pulled their carriages and wagons through the streets. 

Familiar faces went about their usual businesses and chores, waving to one another and wishing all a good day and so on. It was, all together, a pleasant walk to the Rusty Dagger. And the pleasantness was made all the better when, as I arrived, I noticed a certain fiery colored vixen with a particular set of goggles resting on top her pretty little head. 

Dressed in a nice fitting white buttoned shirt, the fluff around her neck poked out from the collar in an almost amusing way. Made it look like she had a lion's mane in a sense. For her bottoms, she wore a simple set of black cloth trousers. She lacked her usual leather apron, but had replaced it with a large duffel bag hanging at her side, which looked full to bursting with all manner of who knew what.

A welcoming smile spread out my lips. "Good to see you finished up before I got here."

I expected an equal amount of friendliness, but instead got a huff and a groan. Her muzzle turned downwards into a sneer as she spat out, "Speak of get here, where Cedric before? He late."

Feigning harm at the rejection of my smile, I scoffed and made an exaggerated whine as I answered, "Well, if you must know, I went to go collect Albert."

The scowl immediately turned right around into a wry smile. "Ooh, Albert. How night Rose? Them confess love?" The quick swift from mild annoyance to gossiping was enough to make one's head spin.

A soft chuckle escaped me as I explained the alchemist's ragged look and the two of us came to the conclusion his night must have a lot more enjoyable than either of our own. We begun speculating on how the night might have gone down, who did what to who and for how long, and especially which one of the two idiots actually had the guts to start the festivities. So caught up in this little back and forth we were, we failed to notice the man of the hour himself walking up our way. 

"...probably didn't even know how to handle a woman like her," I mouthed off, completely oblivious to who was now standing behind me.

"And I suppose you do?"

My muscles went rigid for a brief moment at the surprise, but quickly relaxed as I turned and saw the unamused look on Albert's face. Giving him a charming grin full of teeth, I said, "Oh come on, by the way you looked earlier, it was pretty clear she ran you through the wringer all night."

Taking a second look, I realized he had fixed himself up decently. Changed clothes to something not ripped and torn, his hair had been put back to normal, and thought the bags under his eyes remained they at least didn't seem to stand out as much. 

"Well, you certainly clean up quick," I announced. "I barely even left you, and already you're mostly back to your usual self. Impressive"

A roll of the eyes came as his only response as he walked past me into the tavern. Pram and I followed closely behind, and the small smith began asked the alchemist how his night was.

"Rose nice? Albert treat right? He not offend, yes? He not greedy lover, hopefully. Or she. Pram wonder how Rose..."

"That's enough." His voice held a stern tone, annoyance tinting his voice.

A small yip came from the little vixen as she covered her muzzle with her hands, a sheepish look about her. 

"I suppose you're the mysterious Albert?" 

The voice came from behind us, and we all turned to see the blue-skinned man from the previous day. He had changed clothes--and had taken a shower, I noticed by the lack of a certain 'road smell' from when we talked yesterday--and was now garbed in a black and white vest and shirt respectively. The collar of the vest was opened in a way to form a small v down his chest, but considering he had the shirt underneath, it was a strange fashion choice in my mind. 

The alb extended a hand, introducing himself. "Name's Vaughn, and I suppose I'm gonna keeping you and your pals alive on this trip." No handshake was made however, leaving Vaughn's hand awkwardly hanging around. A brief clearing of the throat later, the blue man looked my way. "Speaking of the trip, I hope you've got my advance ready."

Albert gave me a questioning look, but I ignored it and reached into one of my pockets, fishing out a small slip of paper. Handing it over, I told our escort, "That's a note from the bank. The thousand sol has been transferred to a temporary account I made for you. I didn't know if you already had one."

"I do," he corrected.

"Well, even so, that paper has all the information you need to get your money. I figured it'd be best this way. Don't want either of us walking around with that much sol on us at once, right? Seemed kinda like a bad idea to me."

"Hm." His eyes scanned the paper before he tucked it into some hidden fold inside his vest. A small nod and then, "I suppose this is a better alternative. But just know-"

Before he could make some vague threats, I cut him off. "You've got nothing to worry about. I'm a man of my word, ask anyone."

From my side, I could see a certain fox nod her head in agreement. The alchemist beside her didn't share the gesture, annoyingly enough.

"Bah," he noised off, waving a hand as if to deflect what I just claimed. "I'm not worried. I was about to mention that I'd need your signature in order to transfer the money to my actual account. But we can take care of that later."

"Right right," Pram jumped in. "Talk on how get Whitefall."

Vaughn snapped his fingers at her. "Exactly," he raised his voice. "There's several ways to get there, and since Cedric here is paying me, that makes him in charge up until we actually get there. So," he glanced back my way, "how we doing this?"

Three sets of eyes focused on me, their stares full of questions and possible arguments on what they each thought might be the best means of travel. But, I already knew the true best method. The fastest way to get to Whitefall. The choice that could bring us right to the edge of the area in less than three days.

Not to keep them waiting, I said rather plainly, "We're going by airship."

A long pause, an almost tangible silence, followed my words. I was almost impressed with how dumbfounded all three of them were. But at last, someone had to break the quiet, and it was none other than Albert.

"Woah. Woah. Airship?"

"That's right," I said. 

"But that sorta thing is supposed to be kinda expensive," he replied, as if urging me away from the course. 

"I know that." My tone was like that of a parent talking down to a child. Calm and slow.

For a brief moment, his words failed him, all flustering and babbling like an incoherent moron. I could almost figure out what Rose saw in him during this. It made him almost seem like a shy schoolboy.

When at last his words came, he bolstered himself up and demanded, "Let me pay for the ride, then."

"Absolutely not," I popped his bravado without a moment's hesitation.

"Then Pram pay ride," came the excited words of the little vixen nearby, who had just jumped onto a table in order to meet us at roughly eye level.

"No," I shot her down as well. "Neither of you are paying. This is my hunt, my trip. My responsibility," I explained. 

Albert puffed himself up once more in order to say, "But a ride is almost two hundred and fifty sol a head, and with four of us that's almost another thousand onto what you're already paying him," he jabbed a thumb at Vaughn, "so at least let Pram and I pay for our own tickets."

"No," I repeated, this time more forcefully. "I don't know what kind of ideas you got about me, but I'm not scrounging for every last sol I can get my hands on. I got enough saved up to afford Vaughn's services and four airship tickets, and still have plenty left over to live comfortably even if something were to happen to me during this trip. You can stop this weird obssession you got about my money. I'm fine, ok?"

"Well, look, I just..."

"Ok?" My voice raised a bit more, urging him to just let this go.

When he did, he did so with a defeated sigh. "Yea, alright."

Pram poked my shoulder from my side and said, "Cedric have enough sol? He sure? Not say stop friends worrying?"

I nodded back at her. "I'm not an idiot. I always save my profits from market days and such. Besides, I wouldn't have even put the idea out there if I didn't have enough, anyway."

"Point," she said, accepting my logic. 

A rough, dry chuckle sounded out from the lightly colored alb before us. "Gotta say, you're the first client I've had who's ever taken me on an airship. I'm starting to think I'm gonna enjoy this job."

~~~

In the upper district of Zantile, high up on a little cliff, sat a large passenger airship. Even from at the base of the stairs leading up to the "harbor," one could easily see the ship. It looked like a common ship one would see along the waves of the ocean. The biggest difference was, of course, the spinning blades along the sides and rear. Supposedly, the blades only moved it along, while the rhubrum core of the ship was what allowed it to float and soar through the skies. I didn't know much about it, so I just assumed that must have been the truth.

We had left the Rusty Dagger almost as soon as I had proposed the idea of an airship. No one spoke the entire walk there. The jaunt over to the ship lasted just long enough for that silence to start to become a bit awkward. Thankfully, around the same time I was getting worried about this awkwardness, we'd reached the stairs up to the harbor, if one could call it that. There was only one airship, so perhaps calling it a simple dock would have better suited it. Looking up the long flight, I began to think back on the first time I'd ever ridden an airship. It wasn't much of an 'experience' as some might like to make it out to be; I sat down and fell asleep, and when I awoke, the ship had arrived at my destination. All in all, I'd say it was fairly uneventful.

Taking the first few steps up the flight of stairs, someone finally broke the odd quiet.

"You do have all our tickets, right?" Vaughn's rough voice came from just beside me. I hadn't even noticed he'd been so near until he spoke up.

Patting the small leather pouch at my side, I gave an affirmative nod. "Everything's all together."

"Good good," chimed Pram. "No good if not bring ticket. Then walk all way for nothing."

"Yea, yea," I waved her off. 

She took objection to this.

With a quick movement, she swatted my arm with the tip of her blasting rod, and mimed as if she was going to shoot. It would take only a single push of a button for her to engulf me in flame. Of course, she'd never actually do it. 

But that didn't mean I wasn't cautious whenever she swung that thing around.

To appease her, I let out a quick, "Ok, ok, I'm sorry."

Seemingly satisfied with the response, the small smith put away her weapon and marched ahead of us up the stairs. As she made her ascent, she yelled back to us, "No dawdle. Get trip started."

Vaughn's rough laugh came out in a short snickering. "She's certainly something."

"You don't know the half of it," Albert mumbled out, and though I didn't see it, I could tell he was rolling his eyes.

My shoulders came up in a half-hearted shrug. "She'll calm down some once we get on board."

"Only some?" One of the blue-skinned man's eyebrows raised during his question, and his gaze flicked between me and Albert.

No answer came. We simply trudged upwards, leaving our escort behind us. Honestly, I didn't even have an answer, which was why I abstained from saying something Vaughn might repeat in Pram's company, thus earning myself another threat from her. Perhaps the same was true for Albert. After all, great minds think alike, as the saying goes. As we climbed, I could hear the alb from below make his way up, his heavy bootsteps making a noticeable thud on the cold stone.

In silence once more, we marched on until eventually we caught up with the vixen blacksmith, who stood unmoving at the top step. Eyes wide and mouth agape, she stared at the large ship they lay before us. As noted before, it was relatively the same as a seafaring ship. Probably on the same scale as most passenger crafts. Then again, with Zantile being a landlocked city, even such a common water boat would be a sight, I suppose. Pram's little body was still as she gazed at our transport. Someone had to break her out of this trance.

That someone was me.

I dropped a hand on top of her fluffy little head with a bit too much force put into it, unintentionally knocking her goggles off, leaving them to dangle around her neck. Her entire body shook at the sudden impact, and she nearly lost her balance despite not even moving. Were I a different--or more stupid--man, I would have openly laughed at the sight. I thankfully knew better. Rather than turn in a huff and unleash a few choice words at my action, Pram just pushed away my hand with a sharp slap and walked on, her feet bringing her up to a small tent near the ship. 

The three of us followed after her once again, and inside the tent was a small counter/desk. Behind said desk was a young alb woman, her dark eyes moving over the customers before her. When those eyes landed on me, a slight flash of recognition lit up her gaze, and she sat up a big straighter.

"Welcome back, sir," she said with a note of practiced speech, having said this line possibly hundreds of times. "Are these your fellow passengers for the trip?"

"Indeed we are," Albert cut in, not allowing me the actual response. "What time are we taking off?"

In the same manner of a rehearsed line, she responded, "Once you're all on board, the captain will be happy to get going as soon as you're ready." Afterwards, she waved a hand towards the ship, directing us to head on our way.

Not one to stand around doing nothing, Pram shouted out, "No more dawdle," and marched her tiny feet towards our transport. 

Without missing a beat, Vaughn chuckled and followed after, mumbling to no one in particular, "Never knew a kobar this funny."

As we all made our way onto the airship, I took note of the lack of any real crew. Recalling the last flight I took, I could remember seeing more people at work. As the current moment, there were only two or three odd deckhands. There was a small below deck area, but certainly it couldn't have been large enough to hold the entire crew.

As if sensing my thoughts, the doors to this underneath place burst open and out came a baffling amount of people. Over two dozen...well, 'sailors' didn't seem the right word, but they were something tangentially related in a sense. Over two dozen of them wandered out and took their places manning the ship; sails, masts, ropes, the whole shebang, really. If one didn't know better, they could easily mistake this situation for a normal 'anchors-up' sequence, which technically it was quite similar. Only difference was the fact we wouldn't be taking a voyage out to sea, but instead to the clouds.

A low whistle came from Vaughn then. "Wasting no time. I like it."

"No sense waiting around when there's a job to be done," came a familiar voice. 

Well, familiar to me, at least.

To our right, the owner of the voice was one simply dressed man of roughly middle age. A face hidden behind a scraggly beard made it next to impossible to make out much of an expression from him. All that could be seen beneath his overgrown hair curtaining most of his head were his eyes. Those bright pinkish eyes glinted with an air of joy, as if every waking moment of this man's life was nothing but wonderful. Or perhaps he was just good at masking his true feelings. Either way, he took a look at the four of us and offered up a large mitt in a welcoming gesture.

"Captain Zell," he boasted. "I know Cedric there, but can't say any of your faces are ringing a bell."

A tiny fur-covered hand was the first to meet the captain's. "Pram named Pram," the little smith happily barked out. "Never ride airship before." 

Albert stepped forth and quickly recited his own name as he shook the good captain's hand. Next in turn was Vaughn, who also offered up his profession and reason for his being here.

Zell waved him off, however. "Yes, yes, Cedric already told me. Whitefall. Wouldn't much tell me what he was hunting this time, though."

Giving a half-hearted shrug, I responded, "If you knew what it was, you might try to kill it yourself."

"Ha! Not likely." After barking an order at some passing crewmen, he turned back and continued on. "I don't care if it's the secret of eternal youth you're after. If it's in Whitefall, you're welcome to have it all to yourself, boy."

"What's the matter, old man? Scared of the spooky forest?"

"Ain't the forest," he said with a sniff. "S'what lives in it that concerns me. Should concern you, too."

"Save it," I retorted, bringing a hand up to stifle any further talk on the subject. "I've heard enough of it from those two." A thumb pointed towards my friends, who weren't paying the captain and I any mind, and were staring off at the airship.

"Anyway," interjected my escort, "what's the over-under on how long it'll take to get there?"

A hand was brought up to rub at the captain's massive beard. "According to my navigator, we'll be coming up on our destination a little before midnight." He paused and gave a small wave to the helmsman and made some odd gesture. "Speaking of, we're taking off in a minute."

Turning around, Zell stood up tall and proud and belted out, "Get this old girl flying already! We're wasting daylight!"

At the sound of his call, the entire crew moved in doubletime. Bodies were a blur as they set to work, everyone moving this way and that, just barely avoiding crashing into one another as they worked. It was a type of organized chaos. And sure enough, before you could utter "look at that," the ship's rhubrum core roared to life and the rotating blades began whipping into action. Before too long, the slight rumble underneath my feet was an all too recognizable feeling of the airship moving away from the dock and slowly upwards. 

"Woah! Ship actually fly." The sheer shock in Pram's voice made me think she might have believed the ship wasn't capable of such a feat. Her little feet quickly brought her over to the side of the ship, where she looked down at the town below becoming smaller and smaller as we ascended. Wide eyes glimmered with joy as we were coming closer to touching the clouds.

Now that the journey was upon us, the fast-paced crew slowed down to their initial meandering about, and Zell was overseeing it all, his hands on his hips as he stood in pride of his ship and her crew. The bushy beard hid a smile, but if you looked close enough, you could see a very faint upward pull along the hairs where a mouth would be. 

The good captain faced us all again and stated, "Welp, this is where things get boring. May as well settle in. Like I said, it'll be quite a while 'till we touch down again."

He didn't have to tell me twice, though I suspected my fellow travelers might have realized just how long the trip would take. I sure didn't the first time I payed Zell for a ride. Thankfully, I now knew better, and had brought ample boredom removers; cards, dice, a few research papers on unicorns to help my hunt. I wouldn't be caught up staring at the sky, hoping to see even a simple bird like I did on my first ride. 

A certain alchemist appeared at my shoulder. "You didn't tell us this would take most of the day." He actually sounded rather miffed, his tone harsh.

My face warped into a look of bewilderment at his stupidity. As if I was explaining to a child, I told him, "Zantile is in the southern region, and Whitefall is all the way north and borders Bristole. Of course it would take a while, but an airship was the fastest available route." I went further on, "Besides, it's not like you can just go back now. Unless you wanna take your chances jumping off the side."

A long sigh was his only response as he wandered off again, only to replaced by Vaughn. The blue skinned man eyed me for a moment and asked rather pointedly, "Just how much money do you have?"

"Enough to know not to boast about it," I scoffed mockingly.

"Smart man." Flashing a grin, he faked a yawn. "Think I'm gonna find a free spot somewhere and waste away the day."

I offered up the possibility of some card of dice games to while away the hours. Surprisingly, he took me up on that, and we even rounded up Pram and Albert for some friendly gambling. Not having much in the way of spare funds any of us would be willing to let go to the wayside on a game, we opted to instead play for small amounts of food. A bit of dried pork here, a handful of nuts and berries there, and such it went. So engrossed in our game, we didn't even notice the sun slipping behind the horizon until a crew member rang out a tiny bell to alert everyone to dinner.

Down in the crew quarters, things were cramped. More so than one would imagine for a large ship such as this one. Everyone was standing elbow to armpit down there, but through it all, I could detect a delicious odor. The scent of grilled meat reached my nostrils, and I was in heaven. It was a meat I had eaten myself on many an occasion; venison. It was enough to make my mouth water at the smell of it. I waited in that line, slow moving as it was, and when it was finally my turn at the front, I was greeted to the beautiful sight of a number of slabs of meat slowly roasting over a makeshift grill being powered by a fire rhubrum. Some people have said using rhubrum for cooking didn't give the same quality taste as classic open fire grilling. 

They were dead wrong. The taste was unlike any I'd had before. So tender and juicy, and the added spice rub only elevated the whole of it. No ordinary fire roasting could compare to this, not without a lot of time investment. The meat was damn near falling off the bone, and it had only been sitting on the rhubrum stove for less than five minutes. You couldn't get that from an open fire that easily. 

As we were all enjoying the hearty meal, Zell came by and sat down at an open seat across from me. With that big damn beard of his, I began to wonder how he even ate. But, rather than catch a glimpse of this mysterious process, Zell chose to speak up. 

"I want to remind you we aren't gonna be dropping you off right on the outskirts of Whitefall."

With a shrug, I noted, "I remember our agreement. Why bring this up now?"

Scoffing, he replied, "It's more for your friends. I'm assuming you forgot to mention the specifics to them?"

"Cedric," spoke the short vixen to my left, "what Captain talk mean?"

I opened my mouth to explain, but Zell reacted faster. "What I mean, little lady, is that ya'll will be setting down in a nice little field a few miles southwest of the forest. Mostly due to me n' me crew not wanting to get too close to that hellsite."

"Speaking of the hellsite," Albert pushed into the conversation, "how much do you know about it, Captain?"

A slight pause came before the ship's master responded. When he did open his mouth, he began with a sigh. "About as much as anyone else, I suppose; big forest, dangerous beasties, such and such."

"Been inside?" Pram's tiny voice shot up in volume to be heard over the noises from the crewmembers surrounding us.

"Never in me life," he confirmed with a nod. "Don't want to, neither."

Vaughn chimed in with, "Guess that's not much of a shock. I mean, I'd have never gone in there had I not been paid to. No different from this time, really."

"Aw, ya mean the big bad blue boy ain't got the stones to wander into Whitefall without getting some sol for his troubles?" 

Zell's little teasing actually made Vaughn's lips crack into a small smile. "Says the old man who's dropping us off some miles away from the spooky forest," he joked back.

"Fair enough," the captain concluded.

Someone appeared at the top of the stairs then to announce we'd be arriving at the drop off point within the hour. A collective murmuring arose from the whole room, not to mention my own table. The crew would have be glad to head to a nearby town and have their fun, I imagined. My body moved on its own, and I saw myself depart the table and back to the deck of the ship to see our surroundings.

The boards creaked underfoot as I made the small ascent up the stairs. The night sky was spilling out in front of me as I passed the doorframe, and there off in the distance was an immense expanse of trees. Tall--no, giant--oaks shot up from the earth below, so thickly packed together, it made sense why an airship wouldn't be able to land within even if Zell wanted to risk it. As the tell-tale name implied, the forest was blanketed by an eerie snow, a shroud of frost that only extended to the edge of the trees and nowhere else. Whitefall was strange in that way; an eternal winter covered the area, and no one could ever explain how or why.

This late at night, without any sound around, the forest looked almost serene, like something out of a painting. So still and silent, it was hard to believe that just within those woods lie all manner of awful beasts. As if Whitefall itself could hear my thoughts, a loud roar echoed from within the oaks, and birds took flight to flee the source of the noise. 

"Sounds like a drake." Vaughn's rough tone came as a shock to me. I hadn't even heard him approach, those heavy boots of his somehow as quiet as a doormouse. 

Leaning against the railing, the words, "I saw a drake once," fumbled out of me.

"On a hunt?"

"Nah, nothing like that," I answered. "Back before Zantile, I used to live in Astril."

Recognition lit up Vaughn's eyes at the mention of my old hometown. "Oh, Astril? I've been there before."

"Really now?"

"Yea, yea. Few years back, I had a job with a traveling merchant, and Astril was on our route. Nice place. Beautiful apple orchard."

"Best damn apples this side of the Temsik River," I boasted. "So juicy and sweet, it's like a piece of candy melting right in your mouth." It'd been some time since I talked about my old town. It was actually sorta nice doing so.

A short, happy sigh escaped the blue skinned man. After the short breath, he urged me on. "About that drake you saw?"

"Oh yea," I remembered. "Anyway, when I was a kid, some performing troupe came through town, and they had this drake with them. Claimed they had it since it hatched, and trained it to do a couple tricks; flying in a circle above the crowd, jump through a little hoop, spit acid at a target a few yards away. Just some basic things, I guess, but being a drake, it impressed people."

"Heh. Yea. Seen some tamed monsters before. Never goes well, though." A hand was brought up to his neck and he mimed a knife sliding across his throat. "Eventually, their feral instincts kick in."

"Hm," I mused. 

A knife appeared in one of his hands and he began to clean out the dirt beneath his fingernails with it. "So, was that the end of that little story? You saw a drake, and that's it?"

"Pretty much," I affirmed with a nod. 

A small, hoarse laugh bubbled out of him. It sounded almost painful with how scratchy his voice was. "You are awful at telling stories, friend."

Despite how slightly chilling the man's laugh was, it had an infectious quality to it. I just couldn't help but join in. Unbeknowst to either of us, as we were laughing like idiots, Pram and Albert had wandered up onto the deck and came to find us. To the two of them, we must have made a peculiar sight.

A loud stomp ceased the laughing. Pram had lifted one of her feet and heavily shot it back down to the wood beneath us. Now that everyone's eyes were on her, her face lit up in a wide grin.

"Pram have question."

No one responded to her. The silence dragged on, as if the air itself was also waiting for the little blacksmith to just get on with it.

Undeterred by the lack of the desired response, she continued, "How Cedric track unicorn? He not see before, yes?"

Albert's hands clasped together as the shock hit him. "That's a fine question." He turned his attention to me and, "Do you even know how?"

And just like that, the full force slap of their collective doubt struck me again. How could my own friends not trust me? They knew I was one of the best hunters they'd ever known. I mean, who else could regularly take down dangerous beasts and then sell off all their pieces parts? Some stupid would-be hero? No, those idiots would get themselves killed trying to look cool or some such lunacy.

When the hurt left me, I cleared my throat and, with chest puffed out, I stated, "I've done my research, like any good hunter would. There's not a whole lot of information on unicorns, but what there is, I made sure to study. I know their usual eating habits, the exact patterns in their hoofprints, the color of their urine, everything I'd need to know to..."

The tiny shrill of a bell being rung cut me off. From up above us, the man in the ship's crow's nest was alerting the crew our destination had arrived.

We were at our dropoff point.

~~~

We had set camp immediately after Zell and his crew had flown off. No fire, though. Didn't want to attract any attention from whatever lived in Whitefall. Sure, we were a few miles away, but that was still a risk none of us were willing to take. It was a quick affair to get everything set up, done in relative silence. 

This silence was broken the moment we all sat down to rest. 

"You think they'll actually come back for us?" Albert mumbled.

"Course," I responded. "Problem is if we'll be there when they come back."

Our escort made a strange noise then spit a rather large glob of saliva onto the grass beside him. "Long as we keep our wits about us and don't stumble around, we should make it back in one piece."

Shaking my head, I clarified, "Not what I mean. Zell will come back alright. But if we miss his arrival, he isn't gonna wait for us."

"Happen before?" came Pram's voice.

I gave a short nod. "Not to me, though," I clarified. "Another passenger he dropped off before me one time. Guy was supposed to meet up on some hilltop, but ended up missing the time window. Zell waited an hour, then took off." 

"What happen passenger?"

"No clue." After taking a bite of some dried meat, I said with my mouth partially full, "Probably just had to buy a ticket for another ship."

"Expensive mistake," Vaughn snorted. 

"One I'd like to avoid." 

As we all went quiet once more, we ate our fill and then settled in the for the night. Off in the distance, another drake roar could be heard, followed by an answering bellow from another beast. Vaughn offhandedly commented it might have been a farsian hound. I hoped he was wrong. 

~~~

I woke suddenly, the first little bits of dawn sprinkling the still dark sky, painting it with those subtle shades of purples and blues. Looking around, I found only one other person was awake. The short little fire furred blacksmith was busying herself with another one of her signature lure boxes. I hadn't even realized she brought it with her, but I kinda made sense. Going into a place like Whitefall could provide ample creature noises for a number of the little tools.

Her tiny hands moved around the box, pressing and pushing little pieces into place. Strangely, she had no conventional tools to use, like a hammer or other such useful objects. She simply worked with only her hands. I had never actually known how she managed to build these devices, so seeing her work like that was certainly interesting. As I watched, one thing troubled me. She had claimed her lure boxes were rhubrum based, but I could see no indication of any of the magical material itself. 

Perhaps the stone was somewhere inside the box, tucked away behind the metallic walls and such. Regardless of how it truly worked, these tools of hers had proved an invaluable asset to me in the past. And, if things went south during this trip, I imagined they could also be used as a good distraction to any unsavory monsters that might be after us. 

I must have made a noise, because the little artificer's ears perked right up and she swiveled around to face me. Large eyes scanned the area around us, searching for something. What she could have been looking for, I had no idea.

"Everything alright there?" I whispered, not wanting to wake the others.

Those icy eyes of hers settled on me, seemingly finished with their scouting. "Why Cedric awake?" she whispered in response. "Him need rest for hunting."

"Could ask you the same thing."

She breathed out something I couldn't quite hear and then turned back to her work. As her little fingers twisted and turned tiny gears, she spoke softly. "Pram think maybe catching new noises. Need new boxes for catch new noises, so she bring many materials." She then gestured to a small spot to her right I hadn't noticed before. There, sitting in a small bunch were several other lures.

"Hm, those look nice."

The voice came from beside me. It was a harsh voice full of gravel. I turned and offered Vaughn a welcoming smile. 

"Yea, they're also real handy to have on a hunt." I explained how these little devices worked, and Vaughn seemed really interested in trying one out for himself, but none of the ones Pram had made were fully ready for use. 

During this short exchange, our resident alchemist had deigned to finally rouse from his slumber. His hair was sticking up in places, a sign he had shifted in his sleep quite a bit. When he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he gave a long yawn.

"And so the sleeping princess joins the knights," I joked. 

"Eat shit," he spat in return, but he did it with a broad smile. 

Overhead, the sky was slowly filling with the rainbow of color that came from the morning sun. As the light began to color the world around us, we all collectively, and without hesitation, started to pack up and make ready to begin the hunt, as if we had planned it. Which we hadn't. Just an odd coincidence we all moved at the same time.

Packing up took some time, as when we had finished putting away everything, the golden orb had risen above the horizon, the bottom of the circle hovering just over the line where the sky and earth touched. With the light came the warmth; a calm, almost soothing soft heat. A perfect kind of subtle heat. Today was going to be a good hunt. I could feel it in the air. Could feel it in my own soul, even. 

"Hope everyone's good and ready," Vaughn started. From his side, he pulled forth his dagger and stepped forth. "From this moment on, you're under my watch. As such, you do what I say if you want to keep living. No sidetracking, no loafing around, no shooting off on your own because you saw some interesting little frogs or whathaveyou. Stay close, stay safe." When the three of us all gave him a nod of our collective understanding, I saw a twinkle in one of his eyes. 

Vaughn led us towards Whitefall. The closer we got, the more the warmth of the morning sun was stolen away. The breeze shifted to become colder than it had any right to be, carrying the frost and ice from the forest out towards us. The chill seeped through my clothing, biting down into my skin like tiny needles. The heavy cloak I'd brought was quickly drapped around me, and the winter cold wasn't as harsh then. From my side, I saw Albert follow my lead with his own cloak, and Vaughn ahead of us had already donned his own. Pram, however, did not seem all too bothered by the cold. Her personal coat of fur was more than enough, I assumed.

Pulling out my map, I began to pinpoint our location and directed Vaughn as to where Laiu's man had encountered the unicorn. It was a bit west of our current position, but thankfully not too far off. The walk was calm and silent, the only noise our own footsteps upon the grass and leaves. Not even birds dared make a sound, it seemed. It was almost unnerving.

When we found the marked area the unicorn had been spotted, I began my usual ways. Hunkering down, I scoured the ground floor for any signs of the beast; discarded hair, droppings, urine, hoofprints, anything I could to tell where the creature could have gone. There were some tufts of fur or some such, but they lacked the distinctive silvery shine I was looking for. Other than those, I could not find a single piece of evidence of the mythical beast. I had been shying away from the edge of the forest so far, not yet ready to set foot inside, but now I was left with no other choice. It was time to enter Whitefall.

With completely not nervous steps whatsoever I stepped forth onto the frost coated ground. A hand latched onto my shoulder. Hard.

"You can't take lead," Vaughn commanded rather than said. To emphasize his point, he moved past me and pushed through the brush, gesturing for the rest of us to fall in behind him. As we followed, he spoke without turning to look at us, his harsh voice quiet. "Just look for your tracks or hair or whatever, then point me where I have to go. Stay behind me and keep your eyes peeled."

A wordless grunt of acceptance was all I gave for a response, and continued my attempts. There were tracks in the snow, several different beasts in fact. Some of those prints in the white were a bit too large, and I hoped that whatever made them wouldn't come across our path, or we their's. Admittedly, it had been a few good days since Laiu's man had seen our catch, so if the unicorn had been through this area, it's tracks would have been trampled over and more difficult to spot. That is, of course, if it hadn't been making routine walks through this spot.

Which, after half an hour of fruitless searching, proved to be a bad assumption on my part. 

It was time for a different method. From my research, I knew that unlike horses and other such common creatures, unicorns were avid carnivores, and their prey were the likes of rabbits and squirrels and small rodents. Things that would put up little physical resistence aside from fleeing. Then again, there were other beasts in Whitefall that also shared such a diet. This would have meant possible territory disputes, and unicorns did not play fairly in that regard. According to witness testimony, the horned horses had the gift of magic. Nothing too dangerous, mind you, just some simple spells for defensive measures, if the tales are to be believed.

The funny thing about magic is that it always leaves its own tracks, if you know what to look for. Thankfully, all my reading and studying had prepared me for such an event. After all, unicorns aren't the only magically gifted animals out there. Some of the dragonkin were known to wield spells as talented as any novice mage. Any good hunter worth his salt would have done their homework if they wanted to know the signs on what to avoid out in the wild. However in this case, I was looking to go towards, not away from, any notes of magic I could find.

Vaughn led the way as I made little mental notes on our surroundings. The perpetual snow around the forest made for an interesting sight. For one thing, the constant snow was good for tracking...if only the specific ones I was searching for hadn't been walked over. Having lived in the more warmer climates of the southern regions, snow was always something I only heard about in tales, up until I got old enough and took to hunting, at which point my traveling took me to places where snow was more common. My first sighting of snow left me breathless. The pure white, twinkling in the sun, was a beauty unlike any I'd seen. And there in Whitefall, it was just like that first time. Snow and frost as far the eye could see, draping the trees, covering the bushes, freezing over little puddles. I wouldn't have minded having a little cabin in a place like that, sans the monsters and such, of course.

We had been walking for a few minutes when a loud roar erupted from up ahead. The sound froze us all in our tracks and instinctively, I crouched down to avoid the notice of whatever let loose that bellow. Vaughn was already a step ahead of me, having gotten to the ground, his entire front buried in the snow. Albert and Pram followed our examples and hunkered down as well. Up ahead through the thick trees, a dark shape moved, crunching sticks and debris underfoot as it went. I couldn't quite make out what the beast was, the thick black fur covering it could have been a number of creatures, but that noise it unleashed...I hadn't heard it before. Not once. It was like a strange mixture of a dog's bark, a bear's rumbling, and a human's cry of anger. 

From our position in the snow, I watched as the beast shuffled about, and when it turned to the side, I could see its face. Or rather, what was left of it. A somewhat canine-like muzzle stretched out from a square face, but one half of its head was missing most of its fur. The exposed skin was charred black; a recent burn, yet to start scarring over. Along its front legs were similar burns, and every step it took, the wounded legs shook in pain. Whatever attacked this creature was not something I'd want to mess with.

The large beast trudged on, and soon enough it's crunching steps were a distant sound. The four of us rose and brushed the slush off ourselves.

"What in the world was that?" Albert breathed out.

"Never seen one like it before in my life," I admitted. "But, if I had to guess, I'd say-"

Vaughn cut in with, "Farsian hound."

"That not same sound last night," Pram noted.

Without skipping a beat, he responded, "I was wrong last night."

Albert clicked his tongue at that. "What an escort. Doesn't even know the right animal noises."

"Don't be shitty," I barked. Turning to Vaughn, I offered an apology on the alchemist's behalf.

"No need," he brushed it off. "Albert's got a point. My mistake for not paying proper attention." Despite having said this, I saw the alb had his fists clenched tight.

Not quite as calm and cool as he pretended.

Pram piped up. "What burn hound?"

With a shrug, I thought out loud, "Could've been a bunch of different thing. A lesser dragonkin, a marmin hare, maybe something that could use magic. In a place like this, there's no telling for sure."

"If magic," Pram mused, "could be unicorn?"

I thought about it for a moment. Unicorns did know some magic, but there weren't any known reports of them using fire. Then again, they aren't exactly a common sight in and of themselves. Perhaps the past researchers just got lucky and didn't get a ball of fire thrown at their faces. 

I shared these thoughts with the others.

"If it was the unicorn, is there any way of tracking it down from that?" Albert brought a finger to his chin and tapped. "Magic is supposed to leave remnants after its used, right?"

"How do you know that? You don't know any magic."

"No, but you've talked about this stuff before," he explained. "When you dealt with that cockatrice a few years back. When you got home, you told me how you hunted it down."

I had completely forgotten I'd ever explained that to him. It definitely sounded like me, though, bragging about a good kill and the clever way I accomplished it. I didn't realize he actually paid attention when I told my tales. I always figured he just tuned me out once I got started on one of my yarns.

"Well?" Vaughn pressed. "Can you track it or not?"

"Sure," I nodded. "Assuming it is magic, of course. But, we'll need to find where the farsian hound was attacked, first off." After saying this, I headed over to where we saw the hound initially. It had left deep intendations in the snow as it had walked, leaving a very clear path for us to follow back to wherever it came from. Not just the prints, either, but also plenty of broken branches along the forest floor and trampled upon bushes and such. 

Following this path, I kept a little mental note to myself to not get too excited over this. There were a few beasts that could use magic, not just unicorns. I told myself this could all be just a wild goose chase, and we'd end up dealing with some other nasty monster, completely missing our target. But, this was still a chance, however slim it might be, to find the mythical animal every hunter dreams of making a trophy out of.

Through Whitefall we went on, following the backwards tracks of the farsian hound. A few times, we heard other groans and roars, but never saw another beast we had to hide from. Eventually, we stumbled upon a spot where the trees were missing some snow around the base, and their barks were singed and cracked. And, as luck would have it, this fire had indeed not been natural. Small floating balls of light, as tiny as snowflakes, rose up from the scorchmarks on the trees. The whisps of light were drifting around, pulled by unseen forces off through the thicket, as if guiding any who happen across them towards some unknown fate. 

I'd seen these kinds of lights before. Not just with the cockatrice, but two other times; a small wyrm and a dresdero. The faint remains of magic looked exactly like these wisps, and all three times prior, they led me towards my target. I could only hope that this time would be no different.

~~~

Through frost coated grass we marched. Through slush filled puddles, we marched. Through wind so cold it seemed to claw at the exposed skin, we marched. 

The motes of light seemed to dance as we followed them, as if urging us forward. Their bobbing and weaving in the air was like a taunt, mocking us for not having found our quarry yet. Twisting and turning through the trees, they guided us on, becoming sharper images in the air. The wisps slowly became less and less translucent, a sure sign we were closing in on our targeted prize. All the while, not another beast called out. No roars, cries, barks, yells; nothing at all. The only sound was the soft thuds of our boots in the snow. It was as if Whitefall itself was watching our journey.

The silence was disturbing. There was near everpresent sense of danger, as if a hundred unseen eyes were tracking our every movement. For all we knew, that could have been the case, too. The thick trees blocked out sight of anything not directly in front of us, so there was no telling what, if anything, was just around the corner.

From behind me came a soft whisper. "Cedric know if get close?"

"Yea," I told Pram. "Hopefully, it's not too much longer." I pointed out about the wisps being less translucent. "Whatever cast that fire spell earlier must be close by. It might've even cast a similar spell sometime recently, because these wisps are a lot brighter than usual."

"If whatever this is can use magic," Albert spoke up, "what's our best defense against it?"

"You brought some alchemy potions, right?"

He nodded and opened the sack at his hip, showing off a nice selection of vials and bottles filled with an assortment of colorful liquids. "I'd be an idiot not to," he boasted.

I almost wanted to use that as a jumping off point for a joke, but managed to keep it down. "Got any explosives?"

A devilish grin spread across his face. "Take your pick. I got smoke, spark, fire, and flash."

"Good. Those'll definitely be useful, I'm sure." 

Up ahead, Vaughn called out in a whisper, but his harsh voice made it louder than he likely intended. "The magic seems to be pointing to that cave." He gestured further ahead of him, and I walked up to see what he meant.

The wisps of magic were leading us towards a hole in some rocks in between the trees. The ice and snow had piled up near the entrance, but the smooth stone was still noticeable even through it all. From my research, there were no known sightings of unicorns dwelling in caves. That being said, however, they were still animals like any other. In a place as cold as Whitefall, it was only a smart move for an animal to seek shelter away from the winds and ice.

Pulling my crossbow from the strap on my back, I gave a silent prayer to the Eternals and took a step forward.

Vaugh immediately shot ahead, a wordless reminder he was still the escort, and I the client. A long dagger had appeared in one of his hands, the other clenched tight into a fist, and he trodded to the mouth of the cave. The three of us followed after him, and I noticed Pram pulling one of her lure boxes from her bag, as well as Albert gripping onto several of his vials. 

Slowly we approached the opening and peered inside. The cave went deeper than I had anticipated, as the magical wisps traveled down into inky black darkness, disappearing into the void therein. Narrowing my eyes, I picked up a loose stone and tossed it into the cave. The echoes of the rock bouncing and hitting the wall flowed out. No other sound came. 

"Hm," I grumbled.

"Doesn't seem like a good idea," Albert mumbled. 

"Maybe not," I sighed, "but this is our only lead so far." 

Taking this as his cue, Vaughn stepped forth into the rocky hollow, his steps slow and sure as he went. For a moment, I watched as he slid up to one of the walls of the cave, as if ensuring nothing could catch him in the back. Eventually, his advance caused him to sink into the darkness, so I swiftly made my way after him. I could hear Pram and Albert coming in after me, and soon enough, we were all creeping deep into the inky black void, the light of the sun behind us growing dimmer and dimmer as we went along. As my eyes slowly adjusted to this lack of light, I could see the outline of our escort, having stopped his movement, now standing still against the wall. 

Vaughn took notice of us and raised a hand, quietly gesturing us to stop before he then pointed past himself. Over that way, I could see the end of the cave, the back wall of the rocky interior. I could also make out a shape in the darkness. The shape was large and serpent-like, coiled around itself in a heap. Two arms which ended in clawed psuedo-hands were folded up underneath a head adorned with twin horns on either side of the skull. A long gator's muzzle stuck out in front, and though I couldn't see them, I just knew there were a set of razor sharp teeth inside. Of course, as luck would dictate, the motes of light ended their dance just above the beast's head, taunting us further with our failure to find the unicorn.

It took me a moment to gather my thoughts, trying to think where I'd heard of a creature that fit this description. When it dawned on me what it was, I felt a pit in my stomach. It was a linddorm, a lesser dragonkin. Unlike most of its cousins, a linddorm does not have any sort of special breath. Some people would think this made it less dangerous. That is, until they hear it can use magic. Now, obviously, some of the other dragonkin also can do the same, but linddorms are special in that their magical capabilities are not some piddly form of basic self defense, but rather it is on par with what one would expect of a guild-branded mage. 

In short, if you ever see one in person, you better hope it doesn't see you.

The soft breathing and subtle rising and falling of its body meant it was asleep, and thankfully unaware of our presence. We just needed to back out of the cave slowly and quietly. I waved a hand behind me, silently telling Pram and Albert to go back, and I began to retrace my steps as I kept an eye trained on the beast, praying it stayed asleep. Vaughn slid his way backwards as well, also keeping sure to watch the linddorm as he moved. I wasn't sure what good he'd do against it with only a long dagger, but that was neither here nor there. We had to leave.

Light slowly filled spots at my feet, signaling we were coming back up to the mouth of the cave, when suddenly I bumped into Albert. Turning around, I whispered, asking him why he had stopped retreating, when I saw the reason why. There, standing at the entrance, one foot on the stones, was a drake. It was about the size of horse, with reddish brown scales covering its body, frightening looking claws adoring each of its feet, a maw with teeth made for tearing into flesh, and its giant slitted yellow eyes which were currently looking rather hungrily at us. 

"Well, shit," I breathed out.

The drake heaved upwards and let out a loud roar, and at once it was answered by the warbling cry of the linddorm behind us. Immediately, I bolted to the side as the linddorm slithered up, ready to greet the drake in a battle for control of the territory, or perhaps for the right to eat us. Regardless of its intentions, the linddorm's long serpentine body made its escape from the cave, and the drake bounced back from its superior cousin. Without hesitation, the linddorm's hand began to gather energy around it before shooting out a small needle of white light towards the drake, but missed by barely an inch, the needle sticking into a tree and scorching a large section of the bark black almost instantly. Some kind of lightning spell, if I had to hazard a guess.

In response, the drake's throat began to throb, gathering the explosive powder inside its body before erupting a belch of flame directly at the linddorm's face. The serpent dragonkin swiftly weaved its entire upper body away from the fire and set forth another white needle, this time landing its target, hitting the drake in one of its forelegs. Scales burst off the limb, exposing the skin beneath, now charred and burned by the intense heat of the lightning. A pained yet furious howl left the drake's throat and it launched itself at the linddorm.

A small furry hand grabbed on of my own and pulled at me. Pram was trying to get me to move, get us out of the cave and away from the quarreling monsters. She pulled me along as we dashed past the dragonkins and into the trees, where Albert and Vaughn were waiting. 

Albert greeted me with a frown. "What's wrong with you? Why did you just stand around watching them?"

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"As soon as the linddorm and drake started fighting, the three of us got away," Vaughn answered. "Figured you'd do the same, so when you weren't with us, the little vixen here went back for you."

The blacksmith slapped at my side before scolding me, "Cedric stupid man. Why he stay still when monsters fight? Why no run?"

Shrugging, I said with only the barest minimum of shame, "I guess I just got so caught up in things. Never seen a linddorm in person before."

Albert's eyes went into slits as he spat out, "Yea, and if you stayed put, you'd have seen what the inside of their stomach looks like, too."

"Yea, well..." I couldn't find a good comeback to that, so I just let out a heavy sigh, letting my thoughts unwind from the experience. In the distance, the sounds of the drake and linddorm fighting continued. Roars and nashes of teeth, whines of pain, the loud pop when a lightning spell hit something; all of them echoed from just out of sight. When I felt like the air around us had cooled a bit, I looked at my little blacksmith friend and said, "Thanks for getting me out."

She waved me off almost dismissively. "Pram just do what good friend do. Tiny kobar not easy spot in middle of beast brawl."

With a small laugh, I responded, "Honestly a bit surprised you didn't try to shoot one of them with your blasting rod."

"Pram not have death wish," she revealed.

Vaughn cut in. "Alright, enough of this. I suggest we get a move on. Not a good idea to stand still for too long."

We didn't have any particular destination in mind, simply anywhere away from the two fighting dragonkin, who only seemed to grow louder in their struggles against one another. But then, suddenly and without warning, the sounds of their scuffle cut out entirely. It was as if they had vanished. The eerie silence crept back in, and I got a sudden chill up my spine.

Albert was the first to make note of this absence of noise aloud. "What do you think happened?"

"Maybe check see?" Pram offered.

A lump formed in my throat and I had difficulty swallowing it down. Something had happened just out of our sight, something that put an end to the dragonkins fight. Would it be a good idea to actually risk ourselves just to investigate? I didn't have to make a choice, as the kobar smith picked herself up and scurried over to use a bush as cover as she peeked out to our previous location. I heard a very audible gasp, and I found myself buried in the bush with her, looking at what forced such a reaction from her.

There it was.

The unicorn.

Just as Laiu's informer had told it. A golden mane, sleek silver fur, a spiraling horn. Small sparks of blue-white light were emitting off that horn, a sign it had used magic of its own. In two heaps were the now dead dragonkins, their scales and skin blackened from heat; either fire or lightning magic, I knew not which. The unicorn was gorging itself on their corpses, sharp teeth tearing into the bodies and ripping out chunks of flesh. The juxtaposition of such a beautiful creature acting in such a gruesome manner was not lost on me.

Albert and Vaughn appeared at my sides, and both had similar reactions as Pram and I. Someone nudged me, and I instictively raised my crossbow and took aim at my prized catch. I wouldn't get a better shot than now. It was out in the open, unguarded, eating like a pig and wholly unaware of us. Putting a hand on the trigger, I pulled, and watched as the bolt flew towards the unicorn's chest, my aim for a heart strike.

The missile landed deep with a loud and disgusting sound as it entered the blood soaked silver fur. The beast gave a high pitched, piercing wail of pain as it thrashed and bucked, then it sprinted off to the...west, I determined after a quick look at the sky overhead. Without even thinking, I took off after it. A trail of blood was the obvious sign of where I was now going, and I spanned my crossbow and loaded a second bolt as I gave chase. The unicorn did not go quietly, its hooves pounding as it ran, its yells loud and painful, completely giving in to the fear of death. 

Eventually, I happened to spy the beast near a small stream, its form lurched onto one side as it heaved, the breaths not fully filling its lungs. I had missed the heart, it seemed, but a lung shot was still a decent kill, if a little more messy. My boots pulled me forward almost completely on their own, and I took aim for a second shot, this time a perfect clean shot. The creature looked up at me with its golden yellow eyes and then closed slowly, as if it had just...accepted what was to come. The noise of my friends and our escort heading my way sounded off the trees as the thundercrack of my crossbow's shot resounded.

No more movement. No more breathing. Nothing. It was dead.

A hand landed on my shoulder, and I turned to see Vaughn giving me a grin full of teeth. "Congrats, hunter," he exclaimed.

I didn't answer him.

Albert was next, and he punched my arm affectionately. "Great job." He sounded far away.

I gave no response to him, either.

Pram said something, but I just didn't hear her. It was like I was underwater, her words muffled, though I knew she was just there before me.

I had killed a unicorn, a living legend of a beast.

~~~

"...dric! Hey, Cedric!" Albert was shaking me, and my eyes focused onto him. He looked worried. "Everything ok?"

"What? Yea, yea, I'm fine." I shooed him off me. "...why?"

"You've been quiet ever since we found you with the unicorn." The worry in his eyes never faded. "What's wrong?"

We had gotten back to our drop off point with the spoils of our victory. The hide of the beast, its heart, and most important of all, it's magical horn. Those, along with some choice organs for Albert's alchemy experiments, were all we took back with us. The sun was dropping from its high position in the sky. It appeared that our hunting hadn't taken as long as I assumed. Now we were just waiting for Zell's airship to come back.

I could feel a pair of eyes on my back, and I knew Pram was nearby, listening in on our conversation. Vaughn, meanwhile, was a small ways away from us, carving a piece of wood with his dagger. Eventually, Zell would be back, and we'd be home in Zantile, but for now we were stuck there with nothing to do but pass the time.

Looking up at the sky, I let out a breath before answering him. I knew what the problem was, of course. It was a simple answer.

"It felt too easy."

"What do you mean?" he questioned.

"I had heard so many stories and read so many tales about unicorns, about how they're these elusive, mysterious creatures no one sees for more than a few moments, and only the best of the best of the absolute best have ever been able to claim a successful hunt over one." My eyes drifted over to the bag we had placed the horn inside. "This feels cheap. Like it wasn't earned."

One of Albert's eyebrows raised up. "We came here to kill a unicorn. You did exactly that. I don't understand the issue."

Grunting, I replied, "No. Of course you don't."

"Then explain," he pleaded. 

Sighing, I gave the easiest explanation possible. "I'm a hunter," I said. "This is my life. I go out and I hunt, either for the good of our home, for money, or because I just damn well feel like. Do you know how many things I've hunted that almost killed me? More than I can count. And yet, here I am, despite it all. And this," I gestured around us, "this was supposed to be the granddaddy of all hunts. A living myth. And instead of being satisifed with it, I'm pissed. It makes me feel like this was all just a waste, if maybe all those stories and legends were just bullshit. This was too easy."

He grumbled something I couldn't quite hear then, probably swearing under his breath. "You went into Whitefall, and you walked out in one piece," he shot out. "Not many people can say that. That alone should do something for you. You even got to see a farsian hound and a linddorm. And lived. How is this not good enough?"

"Like I said, I'd heard so many stories. Stories of amazing hunters far beyond me who pulled off feats I could only dream of. And if I, some dumbass from Astril, could manage this, what does that say about all of them?"

He shrugged. "Sounds to me like you're just better than you thought you were."

Shaking my head, I sighed again. "You just don't get it."

~~~

On my mantle rested the horn, placed on a small rack to show off to any who entered me home. I still felt dissatisfied with the whole ordeal, but at least I was home and could rest. Once we touched back down in Zantile, Vaughn waved us goodbye and departed the town for greener pastures. Or heavier bags of sol. Whichever works for a guy like him. Albert still questioned me about my feelings, but backed off when we got home. Mainly because a certain sweets shop owner was waiting for him. Pram thanked me for letting her come along and made her way back to her own home, where Dura was likely waiting to hear all about the trip while the two of them worked in the forge.

All in all, the trip wasn't a complete waste of time. I did manage to do something not many hunters can lay claim to, even if the outcome wasn't to my liking. That was certainly bragging rights of its own, and believe you me, I would be boasting about this on my next binge at the tavern. After a good few cups of some strong drink, of course.


End file.
